@danielrsummers.bsky.social
International development professional focused on rights advocacy, civil society, and global health. Following emerging infectious disease threats. H5N1 Dashboard: https://tinyurl.com/H5N1Dashboard Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/danielrsummers
Thank you for coming out against this, really cruel from Stewart. As if the 'victory' over masks isn't somehow already complete, and to do this anyway in the context of a probably historic flu season. Really really gross
A few pictures from r/washingtondc this evening:
Sorry Popville this wasn't directed at you! Please don't block me lol
This is an extremely gross and privileged opinion bordering on collaborationism. My neighbors in Mt. P are getting kidnapped and terrorized by fascist nazi thugs daily, my own first gen immigrant wife is at risk, and you want me to have patience?
It's good actually to protest and fight fascism hth
The Verge has really gone downhill, I'm sure this is like an editorial decision to push 'positive' use cases for the torment nexus so I'm not slagging the writers. But this is an instant unfollow
Couldn't have happened to a worse person!
Weekly H5N1 Bird Flu Update:
⚠️ Ongoing ILI/wastewater anomalies in the Bay Area
📉 Calling attention to steep decline in number of reported commercial poultry outbreaks, unclear if 'real' (similar decline in wild birds/mammals...)
💩 H5 WW detections in OR, CA, MD, and NJ
tinyurl.com/H5N1Dashboard
This is a major problem, I think can be addressed to some extent by necessarily 'short circuiting' the muted federal response. Have to start thinking outside the box to build local trust between allies and vulnerable workers, critical to filling these massive monitoring gaps.
Following up here, unfortunately the patient died today, multiple organ failure consequent to H5N1 infection. Hospital is monitoring/testing all care providers who had contact:
The Mexican Ministry of Health announced the first human case of H5N1 bird flu in the country today, a three-year old girl infected with H5N1 in Durango, Mexico. Infection confirmed as HPAI H5N1 on April 1 by InDRE. Child is in serious condition, receiving oseltamivir, origin of infection unknown.
Looking at 2025 overall, it's been a pretty messy year for H5N1 bird flu:
🐔 ~38M poultry affected YTD (32.8M of which are egg layers)
🐄 82 affected dairy cattle herds YTD across CA, NV, AZ, ID, MN, and MI
🦆 793 wild/bird mammal detections across every state except MT, MN, and GA
Seasonal Flu A levels declining across the US, with the majority now experiencing moderate or low levels with sporadic high levels in CA, TX, KS, GA, most centered in the Midwest (IA, WI, IL, MI, OH) and mid-Atlantic through the NE. I think reassortment remains a persistent threat:
ILI / Wastewater Anomalies (Δ = multiple regression residual):
Major 🔴 (Δ ≥ 2.5)
• Santa Clara, CA
• Orleans, LA
• Muscogee, GA
• Summit, OH
• Monmouth, NJ
• Essex, NJ
• Penobscot, ME
Moderate 🟡 (1 ≤ Δ < 2.5)
• Monterey, CA
• Ada, ID
• Grand Traverse, MI
• Isabella, MI
• Macomb, MI
• Fairfield, CT
💩 Notable H5 wastewater detections + backdates (* = new detection):
3/29
➜ Coos, NH*
➜ Newark, NJ
➜ Klamath, OR
➜ Marion, OR
➜ Jackson, MI
➜ Nicollet, MN*
➜ Blue Earth, MN
3/22
➜ Henderson, NC*
➜ Tillamook, OR
3/15
➜ Polk, OR
➜ Washington, OR
3/8
➜ Umatilla, OR
➜ Kent, MI*
3/2
➜ Mackinac, MI*
Finally have new CDC data up and a lot to cover (🧵 to follow):
💩 Lots of new H5 wastewater detections + new backdated entries
⚠️ More major influenza-like illness (ILI) / wastewater anomalies, where predicted ILI is much lower than actual
😷 Seasonal Flu A is declining
tinyurl.com/H5N1Dashboard
Thank you so much to everyone who has supported me on Kofi! ❤️
I'm releasing a larger update later this afternoon now that we have new weekly CDC data, but if you like my work or want to help me continue tracking bird flu please consider donating at the link below!
ko-fi.com/danielrsummers
"[FDA] is suspending efforts to improve its bird flu testing of milk, cheese and pet food due to massive staff cuts at the agency... [it] would have served as a quality assurance program (similar to salmonella testing) to ensure reliable results in the FDA's testing of dairy products and pet food."
Bird flu updates!
💩 Continued H5 wastewater detections in Newark, NJ (as of 3/31) + new detections in:
➜ Blue Earth Co., MN (3/28)
➜ Jackson Co., MI (3/27)
🐈 H5N1 infected cats identified in IA, IL, and PA (3/19 - 3/24)
🐔 2.1M poultry affected in Mar. (vs 12.6M in Feb.)
tinyurl.com/H5N1Dashboard
How will cuts at FDA impact U.S. response to bird flu?
We're told agency's top veterinarians overseeing contaminated pet food indeed laid off
And chief medical officer Dr Hilary Marston who had been overseeing MCMs for humans and agency response
www.linkedin.com/in/hilary-ma...
Effectively eliminating NIOSH Respiratory Health and Health Effects divisions on the verge of what'll probably be one of the most catastrophic human pandemics in history.
The utility here is being able to better associate specific bird species that may be more prone to causing livestock outbreaks. You can then actively map migratory observations in the development of a kind of 'early warning' system for livestock producers (something I'm thinking about!)
Added some cool functionality to this 'H5N1 Animals' tab, I've scoured the internet documenting every known bird flu outbreak in livestock by county since 2024, and now you can contextualize these by date/proximity with reported poultry and wild/bird mammal detections! 🕵️
tinyurl.com/H5N1Dashboard
NEW: Per a source with knowledge, the entire HHS Office of Infectious Disease and HIV/AIDS Policy, or OIDP, was just fired.
Growing number of bird flu-infected cats this year (49), NVSL is I think still working through a backlog, so probably not a full accounting.
If you have an indoor/outdoor cat in any area indicated on the second map (probably also SE), please reconsider the outdoor part:
tinyurl.com/H5N1Dashboard
It would be helpful if CDC published genomic data... either way I think you have to consider other explanations at this point. Good counterexamples throughout NE in MA, CT, VT, NH.
@solidevidence.bsky.social, would it be possible for someone to do sample collections in or around that sewershed?
I'm less and less confident the Newark H5 wastewater detections are driven by birds. Miami as example of "classic" bird-driven detection. Two straight months is ridiculous, the only place outside of CA experiencing something like and clearly unattributable to dairy (unless NMTS is whiffing badly)
I think I've captured all available info for recent livestock outbreaks this year, but I'm still working to add pre-2025 data. It would really help if states + USDA started providing geographic metadata 🙃
I added the ability to see known locations of H5N1 (bird flu) outbreaks in livestock today. Very few states provide county-level data so I'm relying on media sources, but it's important to contextualize these outbreaks with poultry, wild bird, mammal, and water detections!
tinyurl.com/H5N1Dashboard
USDA, in livestock data released today, didn't include the H5N1 infected dairy cattle herd in MN (announced Monday). This is due to MN BAH classifying this as a reinfection of the same herd from July 2024.
Nevertheless, I've done them both a favor and included it myself:
tinyurl.com/H5N1Dashboard
