Two state health departments are now following new advice from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on testing flu patients for the H5N1 bird flu virus.
The health departments in New York and Minnesota have released advisories on testing hospitalized patients with Influenza A for the avian flu. Last month, the CDC released an advisory recommending all hospitalized flu patients be additionally tested for the H5N1 virus within 24 hours of admission.
The CDC still considers the public health risk from the avian flu to be low. But the updated testing guidance may reflect growing worries about the potential spread of the virus, according to epidemiologist Dr. Eric Feigl-Ding.
"The concern has really picked up in the last week or two," Feigl-Ding said.
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Bird flu is a virus that typically spreads in wild birds, but more recently it has been detected in dairy cows and other mammals.
New York City shut down all of its live poultry markets Friday, after the detection of seven cases of the bird flu at live bird markets.
There have been no human cases detected this year in the U.S., but 66 human cases were discovered in 2024.
Virologist Andrew Pekosz, professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, says the new CDC guidance is precautionary and emphasized risk is low to anyone not routinely near livestock.
"The general public shouldn't be worried about H5N1 right now," Pekosz said. "Public health officials, virologists like myself, are very, very keenly monitoring the situation, because we're looking for those signs that the virus is changing and it's getting better at infecting humans, and that would really raise the level of concern to the general public significantly."
Epidemiologist says timing is not coincidence
Dr. Feigl-Ding said the fact that the new guidance from the CDC was issued on Jan. 16, just days before President Trump took back the White House, was not a coincidence.
"The new move by the CDC issuing this right before [President Trump] took over was very aggressive," he said.
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The Trump administration froze communications at many health agencies on his second day in office. The freeze included press releases, guidance updates and social media posts from agencies including the CDC.
"I think [the CDC] knew that they would be unable to issue stuff once the Trump administration came in," Feigl-Ding said. "I think a lot of scientists, kind of had a feeling. So, they did want to get out ahead of this."
The CDC resumed publishing its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report on Thursday, but three reports on the avian flu that were scheduled to be released on Jan. 23 were held, according to a federal health official who spoke to Scripps News. At least one of those reports is expected to be released next week. No reason was given for the hold.
