“Funding needed to screen for human H5N1 flu transmission” by Grant Higerd-Rusli

TL;DR If H5N1 flu gains the ability to spread between people, it could readily become a pandemic. Thus, it is very important to know whether it is spreading between people, but no one is currently testing for person-person spread. We are asking for funding to do this testing in the highest risk areas. Short summary  We are a group of researchers at Stanford University, led by Dr. Benjamin Pinsky, seeking funding to screen Influenza A-positive samples from hospitals and clinics near infected dairy herds in the California Central Valley for H5N1 influenza. Currently, public health labs are only testing people with known exposure to infected animals for H5N1, so cases of human-to-human transmission would go undiagnosed. We seek to expand surveillance to people from high-risk areas with influenza A infection but without known animal exposure. Summary  There is an ongoing outbreak of H5N1 influenza in dairy cows with [...] ---Outline:(00:06) TL;DR(00:29) Short summary(01:05) Summary(02:29) Impact(04:23) Methods(05:33) About the teamThe original text contained 2 footnotes which were omitted from this narration. --- First published: December 2nd, 2024 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/jtw2iqReYDQ7Ep7jW/funding-needed-to-screen-for-human-h5n1-flu-transmission --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.