CDC ramps up test development for bird flu, including Utah company

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has picked five lab partners to develop a test for avian influenza A(H5N1) — bird flu — including ARUP Laboratories in Salt Lake City. The other lab partners are Quest Diagnostics, Labcorp, Aegis Sciences and Ginkgo Bioworks.
Bird flu has infected 15 people in the United States since 2022, 14 of them since last April. Early cases were in people who had worked directly with dairy cows or poultry that were infected with the virus, but a recent case in Missouri involved someone with no known contact with infected animals or poultry. That person did have underlying medical conditions and the individual has recovered.
The CDC reported that the U.S. has seen sporadic infections and that the risk to humans remains low. Most symptoms have been mild, such as eye conjunctivitis (pink eye). But mild symptoms have not been the norm internationally. According to the World Health Organization, worldwide, avian flu has a significant death toll in humans with estimates that 52% die.
The CDC and Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services are still working to identify the source of the infection in Missouri.
Bird flu made headlines this year when dairy cattle herds in numerous states were infected with the A(H5N1) virus. There have been cases reported in cattle in California, Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas and Wyoming.
Wired said “the bird flu outbreak takes a mysterious turn.” The story calls the case in Missouri “troubling, because it raises the possibility of an alternate source of transmission, either from a person or an unknown source. Health officials say there is no evidence of person-to-person spread at this time. The CDC says its surveillance system has not picked up any unusual flu activity in the country, and the risk to the general public remains low.”
The Atlantic noted that “bird flu is quietly getting scarier” as it has spread from its original wild birds to poultry and a variety of other animals, including many mammals. But until the Missouri case, U.S. infections were clearly linked to either poultry or cattle. The story’s language is a bit stark: “In other words, the harbinger of a broader, deadly crisis may have ratcheted a little further up the flagpole.”
Or not. CDC and other public health agencies continue to say the risk to humans is low. “Right now, the H5N1 bird flu situation remains primarily an animal health issue. However, CDC is watching this situation closely and taking routine preparedness and prevention measures in case this virus changes to pose a greater human health risk,” the CDC said.
What would trigger greater concern is spread from person to person, which hasn’t happened, or “multiple, simultaneous reports of human infections with A(H5N1) viruses following exposure to birds or other animals.”
Worldwide, there have been sporadic cases of spread from person to person. But none involving the contemporary version of A(H5N1).
Still, the public health agency said it is keeping a close eye on bird flu spread and it’s prepared to ramp up efforts if needed. Hence the new test development contracts.
“Our selection for this partnership recognizes ARUP’s 40-year history of quality test development, our commitment to innovation and our commitment to meeting public health needs,” said Dr. Johnathan Genzen, ARUP’s chief medical officer and senior director of governmental affairs, in a written statement. Genzen also has Ph.D. and MBA degrees.
In a news release, ARUP said the announcement is a shift for the CDC, which usually waits for a public health emergency to arise and then quickly crafts a test for it. Instead, ARUP snd other other labs will work with the public health giant to craft “testing solutions.”
“ARUP wants to be a fully integrated partner in the delivery of public health services and clinical laboratory testing and this contract opens doors for both,” said Marc Couturier, Ph.D., who leads clinical operations for Clinical Microbiology and Immunology and is medical director of Emerging Public Health Crisis, Parasitology/Fecal Testing, and Infectious Disease Antigen Testing.
ARUP hailed the contract, which “formalizes ARUP’s relationship with the CDC, and there will be more opportunities for us to engage with them. We continue to expand our capabilities to address public health crises and are prepared to scale up testing for H5N1, or develop other tests quickly, should the need arise,” said Dr. Benjamin Bradley, who also has a doctorate and is medical director of the ARUP Institute for Research and Innovation in Infectious Disease Genomic Technologies, High Consequence Pathogen Response, Virology, and Molecular Infectious Diseases, per the release.
ARUP is a national reference laboratory and a nonprofit enterprise of the University of Utah and its pathology department.
Precautions you’d take to prevent spread of flu or COVID-19 are key to preventing bird flu spread, too, health experts say. Those are basic hygiene, like washing your hands, not touching your eyes, nose or mouth, staying away from others when you’re sick and also avoiding those who are sick.
But there are cautions with bird flu specifically, since it typically involves exposure to infected animals. People who work directly with farm animals, for instance, are told to wear waterproof coveralls and aprons and wear a mask, gloves and boots. Then wash up carefully when you’re done.
Anyone who comes across dead birds or other animals is told not to handle them. If you must, take precautions.