H5N1 strikes more US poultry flocks, pet cats

News brief

As avian flu outbreaks continue to hit US poultry farms and backyard flocks, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) confirmed more H5N1 detections in five states, including a second commercial chicken farm in Georgia, the nation's top broiler-producing state.

layer farm barn
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Georgia's outbreak involves another broiler facility in Elbert County, with 130,400 birds at the location. The state recently ordered a temporary ban on live-bird sales and exhibitions following its first outbreak on a commercial farm.

APHIS also reported outbreaks at broiler farms in two other states, one in Maryland's Caroline County at a producer with 108,400 birds and another in Virginia's Accomack County at a location that has 441,000 birds. Last week when announcing the presumed positive in the flock, the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services said it is collaborating with counterparts in Maryland and Delaware on a unified response to avian flu incidents on the Delmarva peninsula. 

In Missouri, the virus was confirmed at a large egg-laying farm in Newton County that has 1.175 million birds.

Elsewhere, officials confirmed H5N1 at a backyard farm in Oregon's Umatilla County that has 50 birds.

More detections in cats, cows

In related developments, APHIS today, in an update on H5N1 detections in mammals, reported six more confirmations in domestic cats from five different states, most with January sample collection dates. Two detections are in California, with positives also reported in Kansas, Louisiana, Iowa, and South Dakota.

APHIS also confirmed the virus in a sample from a harbor seal in Illinois (Cook County) and a serval in Michigan (Kent County). Both animals were sampled this month.

In dairy cow developments, APHIS confirmed one more detection in a dairy herd, another in California, raising the national total to 930 and the state's total to 713.

Communications paused at US health agencies

News brief

The Trump administration has placed a pause on all external health communications from federal health agencies, according to media reports.

The Washington Post reports that the pause covers health advisories, weekly scientific reports, updates to websites, and social media posts. Staff members at agencies inside the Department of Health and Human Services, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the National Institutes of Health, were notified about the pause yesterday.

Among the items covered under the pause are the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, which typically includes epidemiologic studies and case reports on infectious disease outbreaks, and advisories from the Health Alert Network, through which the CDC informs clinicians and local public health officials about urgent public health incidents. Both are considered cornerstones of the CDC's communications strategy. 

The pause also covers releases from the FDA on food recalls and drug and medical device approvals, although it's unclear if it will affect more urgent communications, the Post reports.

A source told CNN that while "it wasn't unheard of" for a new presidential administration to ask for a pause to review information before it's publicly released, the scope of the pause is unusual. A health official told the Post that if the pause lasts more than a week or two, it could become concerning.

Study highlights risk of treating asymptomatic bacteriuria with antibiotics

News brief
Urine sample in gloved hand
Viktoria Oleinichenko / iStock

A retrospective study of hospital patients with catheter-associated asymptomatic bacteriuria (CA-ASB) caused by multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa (MDRP) found that antibiotic treatment was a significant risk factor for subsequent infection, researchers reported in the American Journal of Infection Control.

The study, conducted by researchers in South Korea, found that, among 139 hospitalized patients with MDRP CA-ASB at a tertiary hospital in 2018, subsequent MDRP infections were observed in 37 (26.6%), including urinary tract infections (17.3%), pneumonia (4.3%), soft-tissue infection (3.6%), and bone and joint infection (1.4%). Of the 139 patients, 12 received active antibiotic treatment for MDRP and 60 received non-active antibiotic treatment. 

Multivariate analysis showed that underlying urologic disease (hazard ratio (HR), 2.17; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.01 to 4.66), active antibiotic treatment (HR, 2.34; 95% CI, 1.02 to 5.38), and recurrent bacteriuria (HR, 3.57; 95% CI, 1.73 to 7.38) were subsequent symptomatic infections.

Guidelines don't recommend antibiotic treatment

The authors note that while patients with catheters are frequent ASB carriers, antibiotic treatment has shown no clear benefits for patients with CA-ASB and can contribute to antimicrobial resistance and lead to adverse effects, which is why current guidelines do not recommend antibiotics for the condition. Still, the rate of antibiotic treatment for CA-ASB remains high. 

"Our findings strongly support adherence to the current guidelines that recommend against antibiotic therapy for CA-ASB, despite the involvement of multidrug-resistant pathogens such as MDRP," they wrote. "We believe the findings will contribute to more informed decision-making by clinicians regarding antibiotic use in patients with MDRP CA-ASB, thereby potentially reducing unnecessary treatments while ensuring timely intervention for high-risk patients."

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