City & State - Winging it: How government agencies are fighting bird flu - COVID, quarantines, worst- and best-case scenarios: behind the scenes of Pennsylvania’s fight against avian flu and the next pandemic.

UDEL.edu - BIRD FLU: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

April 25

US News - California Gives $25 Gift Cards to Boost Bird Flu Testing

CIDRAP - H5N1 avian flu strikes more Idaho dairy farms

April 24

CBS News Healthwatch - CDC and California offer $25 gift cards to encourage bird flu testing

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is now working with California to offer gift cards to encourage people to get tested or vaccinated near farms with bird flu, the state says.

Dubbed the Avian Flu Influenza Area Surveillance Testing or AFAST project, some clinics in the state are giving $25 in gift cards to people in the community to get swabbed for a potential bird flu infection or to get a shot of the regular seasonal influenza vaccine.

The effort runs contrary to rumors on social media that states have stopped testing symptomatic farmworkers for bird flu, at the behest of the CDC under Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

"There has been no change to our guidance for testing suspect cases, we are not aware of any symptomatic workers not being referred or tested for H5N1, and it is very unlikely that testing would be declined if H5N1 was suspected," a spokesperson for the California Department of Public Health said in an email.

A CDC spokesperson also said their guidance had not changed. The agency continues to recommend people with symptoms seek testing from their doctor or local health department.

Authorities in neighboring Nevada told CBS News they are also continuing to offer testing and treatment to farm workers exposed to bird flu infections in their animals. In Idaho, another state that had seen bird flu infections in farms, authorities said they had not heard of symptomatic workers being discouraged from getting tested.

"We have no knowledge of this happening and have not heard any recent reports of symptomatic workers," AJ McWhorter, a spokesperson for the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, said in an email.

Labs run by state and local health departments are usually the first to conduct initial testing for bird flu, before forwarding the samples on to the CDC for confirmation. Health departments typically announce those "presumptive" detections, even if they turn out later not to be confirmed.

In addition to testing people exposed to the virus on farms, California said it is also continuing to check whether other flu cases elsewhere in the state are being caused by bird flu.

"To date, all samples tested have been confirmed as seasonal subtypes H1 or H3, which rules out infection with H5N1 [bird flu]. The fact that no other human cases of H5N1 have been identified via subtyping efforts is reassuring," the California spokesperson said.

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April 23

AMA - 2025 measles update, new antibiotic for gonorrhea, bird flu death in Mexico, and CT scans and cancer

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April 22

Reuters - US FDA suspends milk quality tests amid workforce cuts

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CIDRAP - New agreement geared toward universal avian flu vaccine

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April 21

The Poultry Site - Bird flu wipes out over 30 million US laying hens in 2025

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Contagion Live - H5N1: The Outbreak the US Got Bored With

The Food Processing - CBS’ 60 Minutes Examines Bird Flu Epidemic - With its continued spread and mutations, veterinarians and virologists interviewed warn this outbreak could become a new pandemic.

April 20

CBS New - Bird flu, feared as a possible pandemic, poses growing risk to people as pathogen spreads, scientists warn

CBS News - As bird flu hits cattle herds in U.S., scientists say these H5N1 factors worry them most

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Xinhua - Immigration crackdown hinders bird flu prevention in U.S.

Texas Standard / Texas Public Radio - Bird flu now spreading through wild mammals, Texas Parks and Wildlife confirms

April 19

Fortune - With eggs hitting record-high prices from inflation and bird flu, parents are trying these alternatives for Easter activities

April 18

My High Plains - Bird flu spreads across Texas Panhandle, affecting birds and mammals

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April 17