Daniel Summers

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!

Map of the continental US for the period of March 1, 2025 to April 9, 2025, showing H5N1 detections in livestock, poultry, wild birds and mammals, along with H5 wastewater detections, plus places with high seasonal Flu A wastewater levels. Location identified through regression modeling as major anomalies in terms of predicted versus actual influenza-like illness activity level based on wastewater prevalence of disease circled in red.

"Animals" tab of H5N1 dashboard, three maps of the continental US arranged in a grid showing H5N1 detections in poultry, wild birds/mammals, and livestock respectively by state and county (where available for livestock).

Reported poultry outbreaks, disaggregated by production type (commercial/non-commercial), by month since 2024.

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.

All H5N1 animal detections and H5 wastewater detections in the continental US (minus Alaska) in 2025.

All H5N1 poultry outbreaks (by production type), wild bird/mammal detections, and livestock outbreaks in the continental US (minus Alaska) in 2025.

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

Map of the continental US showing all influenza-like illness activity levels plus all seasonal Flu A wastewater levels (note that these are not responsive to date, only showing most recent levels)

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:

Map of the continental US showing all H5N1 animal detections, H5 wastewater detections, seasonal Flu A levels, influenza-like illness (ILI) activity levels (Very High, High, and Moderate only), and major ILI / wastewater anomalies circled in red.

Map of the continental US showing all H5N1 animal detections, H5 wastewater detections, seasonal Flu A levels, influenza-like illness (ILI) activity levels (Very High, High, and Moderate only), and moderate ILI / wastewater anomalies circled in yellow.

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

CDC H5 wastewater detection map of the US for the week of March 23 - March 29.

All H5 wastewater detections in the continental US (minus Alaska) from March 1 - April 2.

💩 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*

Map of the continental US for the period of March 1, 2025 to April 2, 2025, showing H5N1 detections in livestock, poultry, wild birds and mammals, along with H5 wastewater detections, plus places with high seasonal Flu A wastewater levels. Location identified through regression modeling as major anomalies in terms of predicted versus actual influenza-like illness activity level based on wastewater prevalence of disease circled in red.

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

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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 suspends program to improve bird flu testing due to staff cuts The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is suspending efforts to improve its bird flu testing of milk, cheese and pet food due to massive staff cuts at the agency, according to an email seen by Reuters and a source familiar with the situation.

"[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."

Map of the continental US for the period of March 1, 2025 to April 1, 2025, showing H5N1 detections in livestock, poultry, wild birds and mammals, along with H5 wastewater detections, plus places with high seasonal Flu A wastewater levels. One location identified through modeling as an anomaly in terms of predicted versus actual influenza-like illness activity level based on wastewater prevalence of disease in Santa Cruz, CA.

Zoomed in map of the continental US highlighting domestic cats recently reported infected with H5N1 with circles highlighting those reported in Iowa, Illinois, and Pennsylvania.

Map of the continental US showing H5N1 poultry outbreaks, by production type, for the month of March. Fewer large-scale outbreaks (these centralized along Indiana/Ohio border + Iowa), but many more small-scale WOAH Non-Poultry outbreaks, vast majority west of the Rockies. Live bird market outbreaks centralized in NE (15 total outbreaks, ~7,000 bird affected).

Map of the continental US focusing only on H5N1 outbreaks in livestock in March. 22 total herds affected, 10 in CA, 11 in ID, and 1 in MN. Known outbreaks in San Bernardino County, CA, and Stearns County, MN outlined in red.

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

A screenshot of a LinkedIn post that reads: "Hilary MarstonHilary Marston • 2nd2nd Chief Medical Officer, U.S. Food & Drug AdministrationChief Medical Officer, U.S. Food & Drug Administration 58m • 58 minutes ago Follow It has been a true privilege to serve as Chief Medical Officer of the FDA. In this role, I’ve had the joy of working with some of the smartest, most dedicated colleagues within my office, throughout the Agency and across the U.S. government. I am sad that this chapter is coming to an end and very sorry for others experiencing the same."

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!)

"Animals" tab of H5N1 dashboard, three maps of the continental US arranged in a grid showing H5N1 detections in poultry, wild birds/mammals, and livestock respectively by state and county (where available for livestock).

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.

Map of continental US with domestic cat infections highlighted (PNW, Rockies, New Jersey) from February 1 - Present.

Map of continental US showing H5 and H5N1 detections in March, regions highlighted include the western US (excl. Arizona), southern rockies + southern plains with arrow pointing north, the midwest (+ KY), and NE.

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?

H5 wastewater detection heat map (November 22, 2024 to March 27, 2025) with Newark, NJ H5 wastewater detections highlighted. Consistent detections starting January 24 with almost no "off" days up to March 24

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 🙃

Map of the continental US highlighting H5N1 livestock outbreaks by state (and where available, by county) for the period of Dec. 1, 2024 - Mar. 24, 2025.

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

H5N1 influenza has been confirmed in a Stearns County dairy herd from samples collected as part of Minnesota’s milk surveillance plan. The USDA’s National Veterinary Services Laboratories confirmed the results March 21, and the Board of Animal Health has quarantined the herd until they meet testing requirements indicating it’s no longer infected. There is no concern for the safety of the public milk supply, as all milk sold in stores is pasteurized to kill bacteria and viruses, and pasteurization has been shown to effectively eliminate active H5N1 virus present in milk. “While under quarantine, the herd will be able to apply for movement permits for animals and animal products such as waste milk and manure. Milk sold for pasteurization does not need a permit and is allowed to go to processing to facilitate business while keeping the risk of the spread of disease low,” said State Veterinarian, Dr. Brian Hoefs. “Our surveillance and response approach to H5N1 is a team effort to ensure we’re covering all angles where it’s detected and limiting its ability to spread.” The Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) is conducting testing of pre-pasteurized, or raw, cow milk samples already collected from each of Minnesota's approximately 1,600 dairy farms on a monthly basis. These routinely collected bulk milk samples, which are taken before the pasteurization process, are subsampled by industry labs and sent for H5N1 testing to the Minnesota Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory at the University of Minnesota.      The Board will report any new detections and updates on cow cases in Minnesota on its website. Please note, this herd was previously infected in July 2024 and will not be categorized as a new herd on the website dashboard. Instead, it remains categorized as “Stearns MN 010” and any new information will be posted in that row of data.

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

First case of bird flu in sheep found on Yorkshire farm The UK's chief veterinary officer confirms the case was discovered on a farm in Yorkshire.

The high prevalence of H5N1 in wild birds globally ensures that incidents like this will occur with increasing regularity. Each cross-species infection increases the risk of viral mutation, which in turn increases the risk of human to human transmission.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Great piece from @jennifernuzzo.bsky.social on the critical need to sustain *and* expand wastewater monitoring for bird flu.

Left: NWSS sites currently testing for bird flu (blue and purple).
Right: all H5N1 detections since 2024.

Huge wastewater surveillance gaps.

tinyurl.com/H5N1Dashboard