Nationally, this avian flu sickened at least 66 people in 2024, mostly dairy farmworkers who came in contact with diseased animals and contaminated milk. Most cases have been mild, but two infections late last year were more severe and more concerning.

Since early 2024, the U.S. has logged 66 human cases of H5N1. Scientists are keeping a watchful eye on the virus’s spread as we enter a new year.

When the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) transitions its leadership with a new incoming presidential administration, a thorough dialogue concerning vaccination for highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) can be expected, a former USDA Under Secretary Hunt Shipman said.

No person-to-person spread has been detected, but that doesn’t mean an H5N1 avian influenza pandemic isn’t possible or even probable.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is distancing himself from his anti-vaccine work as he seeks to become the leader of the nation’s top health agency under President Donald Trump, according to government ethics documents released on Wednesday.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is going dark, along with other federal agencies within the umbrella of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. This week, the returning Trump administration told these agencies to stop talking to the public—for how long, no one knows.

The Trump administration has ordered federal health agencies to halt external communications — including health advisories and ongoing scientific updates — until at least Feb. 1, according to multiple national media outlets and health organizations.

Changing the membership of an obscure advisory committee could have an outsize effect on Americans’ protection against disease.

H5N1 vaccines have been previously licensed, and millions are in the national stockpile. But even with the news of the country’s first human death due to bird flu, vaccination isn’t yet recommended.

Members of two Senate committees will have a lot of ground to cover at Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s confirmation hearing to be Health and Human Services secretary (which has yet to be scheduled ). They should devote most of their time probing how his long history of anti-vaccine advocacy will impact infectious disease control.

Dr. Robert M. Califf bid farewell to his role as Commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in a reflective post on X, formerly

As President Donald Trump starts his second term in the White House as the 47th President of the United States of America, the Republican-controlled U.S. Senate will soon hold hearings