The United States is grounded for H5N1 bird flu.
Since March 2024, when the virus was first reported in a dairy herd in Texas, the virus has killed one person, sickened more, contaminated the nation's food supply, and contaminated dozens of domestic animals. infected more than 900 dairy herds in 16 statesand caused the deaths of millions of wild animals and commercially raised chickens, ducks and turkeys.
How President Trump and his administration will deal with this widespread, potentially deadly virus, which scientists say is just one or two mutations away from becoming a full-blown human pandemic, is a question many health officials and infectious disease experts are now asking .
And so far – say the few who respond to the record of their concerns – things don't look promising.
On Monday, Trump issued an executive order that will remove the US from the World Health Organization – a 76-year-old international agency that has partly shared data and information on global pandemics.
He also shuttered the Biden-era White House Office of Pandemic Preparedness, which was directed by Congress to streamline and coordinate the nation's response to emerging pandemics such as bird flu. Since the formation of the office in 2023, it has initiated Multiagency coordinated efforts to “test” the nation.S Preparedness for novel outbreaks and advice and coordination regarding vaccine development and availability among various health authorities such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration. A visit to the office's website Wednesday morning showed a “404 not found” error message.
And on Tuesday evening, news broke that the Trump administration was providing instructions to a number of agencies within the Department of Health and Human Services to “pause” all health communications. The department did not respond to questions on the matter.
However, a note from a Human Services spokesperson to a Times reporter on a separate topic noted that the agency “has issued a pause on mass communications and public appearances not directly related to emergencies or critical to maintaining health.”
The spokesman said the pause was temporary and set up to “establish a review and prioritization process” for the new administration's appointees.
Experts say we are still in the first week of the new administration and things could change, but these developments do not bode well for a transparent and timely response to the growing avian flu crisis.
“The United States has more cases of H5N1 than any other country,” said Jennifer Nuzzo, director of the Pandemic Center at Brown University in Providence, ri “Our health communication at a time when states are scrambling to contain this virus is dangerously misled “This will make America less healthy and worsen the economic toll of the virus.”
Experts also say the new administration's moves could lead to economic and social isolation for many Americans. Other nations may begin to question the health and safety of exported agricultural products such as milk, livestock, poultry and meat, as well as the health of Americans seeking to travel internationally.
“I can foresee countries proposing travel and trade restrictions for the US.
Although the WHO does not typically support travel restrictions or trade bans, independent nations may require such measures. In January 2020, Trump temporarily suspended access to all non-US citizens coming from China.
Other nations, Gostin said, could take similar actions if they believe the U.S. is not being transparent or openly communicating information about the H5N1 outbreak. And without a seat at the WHO negotiating table where new pandemic guidelines are currently being drawn, the US may be on the outside looking in.
“With our withdrawal we would influence the leadership of China and other US opponents.” “When the next (WHO) director-general is elected, it will be China that will pull the strings – not the United States,” he said. “Our opponents will set the global rules by which we must live.”
Trump's decision to remove the US from the WHO rests on two of his condemnations: first, that the organization mishandled the Covid-19 pandemic, and second, that it overcharged the US “far out of proportion to what was assessed “Payments from other countries will be triggered,” Trump said in his executive order.
Between 2015 and 2024, the WHO calculated the US between $109 and $122 million per year. This represents 22% of all member contributions, making the US the largest contributor to the organization.
But it's not just isolationism and the possible loss of diplomatic strength and influence that worries experts and health officials.
Moves to eradicate offices to streamline the nation's response to bird flu and policies to “pause” communication about it, suggesting either ignorance or a willful blindness to the way H5N1 – and all zoonotic diseases – can move through the environment and potentially harm people. said Matthew Hayek, assistant professor of environmental studies at New York University.
The Trump administration “has” a real opportunity to come in and think about this virus and change the way we manage these types of problems” across the nation's dairy herds for months. Instead, “From the looks of it, that's not going to happen “It appears that these first troubling steps are moving in the opposite direction in terms of public health officials’ oversight and doubling down on hearing no evil, seeing no evil, speaking no evil,” will only make it worse.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture intends to continue updating its H5N1 website as samples are tested and confirmed, according to Lyndsay Cole, a spokesman for the agency. On Thursday, two new dairy herds that tested positive for bird flu were added to the agency “Situation update” Website for H5N1.
John Korslund, a retired USDA scientist, said he isn't too worried yet. He said it usually takes a few days or weeks when a new administration comes online for things to settle down.
“In the case of H5N1, however, the new administration has shown less support for formal pandemic preparedness activities,” he said, as evidenced by Trump's withdrawal from the WHO and the shottering of the White House Pandemic Office. The moves, he added, “could indicate less support from the Trump administration for expanded federal surveillance and response efforts for H5N1 infections in humans and animals.”
He said the virus will likely pose an imminent threat before this new administration decides to deliver “significant federal activity or dollars.”
Nuzzo, the Brown University researcher, agreed.
“The Trump administration will have no choice in acting on H5N1 – the virus continues to sicken livestock and drive up our food bills,” she said. “The question is not whether the Trump administration will act against H5N1, but when and how many lives and livelihoods will be harmed before its action.”
Times Staff Writer Emily Alpert Reyes contributed to this report.