The commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) outlined his agency’s preparations for a “large level” jump of the avian flu to humans.
Dr. Robert Califf, who serves as the FDA Commissioner, spoke to members of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies on May 8.
Lawmakers questioned the commissioner about reports that the avian flu has been found in the bovine population and the milk supply in the United States.
While he assured those present that all samples tested showed no live virus in the milk supply making it to the shelves, he also asserted that his agency and others, needed to be ready for a possible outbreak.
According to the doctor, there has been a spread of the virus to humans, but the current mutation found in cows in the United States can only attach to people around the eyes.
This has led to at least one case of conjunctivitis infection in a human that originated from the avian flu in cows.
“But like all viruses, it comes and goes,” Dr. Califf said. “The real worry is that it will jump to the human lungs where, when that has happened in other parts of the world for brief outbreaks, the mortality rates have been 25 percent.
“That’s about 10 times worse than COVID.”
The commissioner went further, to say that the agency expects additional mutations.
“It’s a mathematical probabilistic thing where the mutation will make it able to attach to these receptors in the human lining of the lung.
“That would make it perhaps transmissible through the airways, which would be really bad.”
Dr. Califf said that his agency is attempting to work with the Department of Health and Human Services as well as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to work on how they would get ready for an outbreak like this one, saying: “We have to be ready and we have to do everything we can to limit the spread of the virus.”
The commissioner’s appearance was scheduled to justify his agency’s budget request, which totaled $7.22 billion, an overall increase of approximately $341 million over the past fiscal year.
Speaking to the programs his agency planned to work on, he cited working on a vaccine for the avian flu, as well as moving forward with the program “One Health,” which is a cooperative effort between the FDA and other government agencies to mitigate health concerns of Americans at home and abroad.
The FDA commissioner was clear, however, that he didn’t believe the public needed to be concerned as of yet, saying that this particular virus has “gone around the world, multiple times now in many different species … the risk is still low.”
The new “United States Government Policy for Oversight of Dual Use Research of Concern and Pathogens with Enhanced Pandemic Potential” defines which research would require a formal risk-benefit assessment by U.S. officials before being conducted.
