US to award $306 mln for bird flu monitoring and preparedness

 The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced Friday it will award $306 million in additional funding to monitor H5N1 bird flu and for regional, state and local preparedness programs.

HHS said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's risk assessment of bird flu remains low for the general public. But HHS and the USDA will continue close collaboration with industry and other stakeholders to protect human and animal health as well as food safety.

"Preparedness is the key to keeping Americans healthy and our country safe," HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement. "We will continue to ensure our response is strong, well equipped, and ready for whatever is needed."

Regional, state and local preparedness programs will get a total of approximately $183 million.

Hospital preparedness programs will get $90 million of that, and $43 million will go to the Special Pathogen Treatment Centers bird flu preparedness and response activities.

So-called "Regional Emerging Special Pathogen treatment centers" will receive $26 million; $14 million will help replenish equipment and supplies for the National Disaster Medical System; and $10 million is going to the National Emerging Special Pathogens training and Education Center.

The CDC will give approximately $111 million for added enhancements to H5N1 flu monitoring at national, state and local levels.

Of that amount, $101 million will be sent to jurisdictions for increased monitoring of people exposed to infected animals, for testing and for outreach to high-risk populations like livestock workers.

About $11 million will be awarded by the National Institutes for Health for contracts in the Centers for Excellence for Influenza Research and Response.

California declared a public health emergency Dec. 19 as bird flu spread in cows.

Gov. Gavin Newsom said the declaration was made to make sure government agencies have the needed resources they would need to respond quickly to the bird flu outbreak

Earlier in December the USDA issued a new milk testing order for H5N1 that requires raw unpasteurized milk samples nationwide to be collected and shared with USDA for testing.

In November the CDC confirmed the first child in the United States to be infected with bird flu. The Alameda County California child tested positive with no known contact with infected animals.

The CDC investigated the cause of the positive test and follow-up testing was negative for bird flu but positive for other common respiratory viruses.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/hhs-award-306-million-bird-191603725.html