CDC streamlines H5N1 avian flu reporting

News brief

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said yesterday that it is streamlining its H5N1 avian flu updates to reflect the current public health situation, marked by declines in human cases as well as animal detections.

The CDC said it will continue to report any new human H5 flu cases on its H5N1 situation page and in its weekly FluView updates. Also, it will switch to monthly reporting of people monitored and tested for bird flu, which currently stands at more than 18,600 people monitored after exposure to infected animals and more than 880 tested after exposure to sick animals.

Of 70 human cases reported in the United States over the past few years, 64 were detected during targeted surveillance and 6 were found through national flu surveillance. The CDC said it will update national flu surveillance data on the first Friday of every month. Currently, more than 201,714 specimens have been tested through the system, which would have flagged H5 or other novel flu viruses.

CDC winds down animal updates

In another change, the CDC said it will no longer report animal detections on its main H5N1 page, noting that the updates are posted on the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services (APHIS) avian flu page.

New outbreaks have slowed during the warm-weather months. The most recent detection reported by APHIS is an outbreak at a commercial game bird farm in Pennsylvania's Lancaster County that has 29,300 birds. The detection was confirmed on July 2. The last detection in dairy cattle was on June 24, which involved a herd in Arizona, putting the nation's total at 1,074 since March 2024.

Data show an intervention boosts HPV vaccine uptake in most preteens, but disparities linger

News brief

Mary Van Beusekom, MS

Nurse applies bandage after vaccination — *Inside Creative House/ iStock*

Preteens were more likely to get vaccinated against human papillomavirus (HPV) if their parents were given reminder letters and their healthcare provider received data on their vaccination rates—but the intervention was less successful among the most disadvantaged groups, a Mayo Clinic study finds.

For the study, published yesterday in JAMA Network Open, researchers performed a secondary analysis of data from a cluster-randomized trial of 6,232 children aged 11 or 12 years they conducted from April 2018 to August 2022 at six primary-care practices in Minnesota, which concluded that the intervention boosted vaccination.

The aim of the new study was to estimate the effectiveness of the reminder letters and provider feedback on HPV vaccination by race, rural residence, and Area Deprivation Index (ADI) status compared with usual care.

Of all participants, 72.2% were White, 9.0% were Black, 4.9% were Asian, 2.3% were Hispanic, and 11.6% were of another race. Most (87.2%) lived in urban areas, and 44.8% lived in the second-most advantaged quintile.

Each year from 2016 to 2020, high-risk HPV infections contributed to about 37,000 new US cancer cases, the study authors noted. "Despite the wide availability and robust safety evidence of the vaccine, current up-to-date HPV vaccine coverage at 50% is below the national goal of achieving 80% coverage," they wrote.

Alternative intervention strategies needed

HPV vaccine initiation (receipt of first dose) increased significantly for most children who received the invention (range, 9.2% to 24.0% increase) but much less so for those who were Black, lived in rural settings, and those living in the most disadvantaged areas. Similarly, vaccine completion (receipt of second dose) rose significantly (19.4% to 31.2%), except for the most disadvantaged.

Future research should explore other intervention strategies that would effectively promote HPV vaccination among families in socioeconomically disadvantaged areas to reduce HPV vaccination disparities.

Among children who received only usual care, HPV vaccine initiation and completion rates were significantly lower with increasing disadvantage but didn't differ by race or rurality.

"Future research should explore other intervention strategies that would effectively promote HPV vaccination among families in socioeconomically disadvantaged areas to reduce HPV vaccination disparities," the researchers wrote.