That Thanksgiving Turkey Could be Deadly
COVID isn't the only bug to be worried about this holiday season
I won’t give you my annual spiel about the harm caused by the mass meat production industry on global climate, regional environment and workers. I’ll save that for the next Earth Day, which marks 15 years of vegetarianism for me and my family.
I also won’t go into why you should disinvite your MAGA uncle, aunt, cousin, etc., though I hope you respect yourself not to surround yourself with bad people on what is supposed to be a day of community.
Fall means increased viral spread, and with the unique challenges of COVID-19, Influenza, H5N1 and a few active outbreaks of food-borne illnesses, this article is more of a public awareness campaign for your holiday planning.
I hope that you’ve heard by now of the highly infectious, deadly H5N1 outbreak that’s been simmering in the United States since 2022.
That slow simmer is now boiling over, and it could spell trouble if you plan to prepare certain kinds of foods for your family this Thanksgiving.
With a 50-60% mortality rate, highly pathogenic Avian Influenza A(H5N1) first appeared in the United States in backyard and commercial poultry flocks in Colorado in February 2022.
By April 2024, the virus had infected dairy workers in Texas, then started showing up in dairy products soon after. Not long after that, the virus began showing up in pigs and cats.
Raw milk consumption killed half the resident cat population on a farm in Texas this year just days after they were fed raw, unpasteurized dairy milk.
Testing by the FDA has found the virus byproducts in dairy milk, cottage cheese, sour cream, and baby formula.
Today, H5N1 is widespread in wild and commercial animals in all 48 contiguous states.
The CDC acknowledges that there are far more cases than are being reported. One case in September was discovered during testing for seasonal influenza. Eight farm workers in Colorado showed they had previous infection out of 115 tested.
There are currently no publicly available H5N1 tests, and there are currently no vaccines (regular flu shot will not prevent bird flu infection).
The symptoms are similar to other kinds of influenza and even COVID-19: conjunctivitis (pink eye), cough, fatigue, fever, headaches, muscle or body aches, runny nose, shortness of breath.
The CDC website that’s supposed to show proper handling of meat this holiday season goes to a 404 error page (seriously, it does).
But another version can be found here. Hopefully the information is up to date, because the date shown on the page is from July and a lot has changed since then.
While proper cooking (internal temperature of at least 165*F) can reduce risk in poultry and eggs, handling the raw ingredients with bare bands or without proper protection still presents a serious risk.
The first recommendation by the CDC is to avoid dead birds. A turkey is a dead bird.
Second recommendation: Don’t touch surfaces that could be contaminated, like your kitchen counter, sink and anywhere else contact with the dead bird has been made
Don’t go to poultry farms or bird markets, and definitely don’t hunt wild birds.
Wear a mask (this recommendation goes over so well these days), and throw away your masks/gloves after use
Use the following measures if you are unable to avoid contact with wild birds or dead animals:
Wear gloves and, after removing them, wash hands thoroughly
Wear an N95 respirator
Use eye protection, such as googles.
Unless you’re planning to cook that bird in full Walter White lab gear, just don’t get one this year.
Human cases were slow to start, but have recently exploded relative to where we were six months ago.
A recent case in a Canadian teenager suggests the virus has adapted to become more infectious to humans. Two additional cases in California this week with no known contact with infected animals also worry scientists about the virus’ rapid adaptation.
The Biden administration’s absolute failure in addressing this outbreak has become somewhat of an open wound for experts, especially on the heels of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“In an ideal world, we would be testing to monitor for signs that these changes are happening. But we're not testing nearly enough — not nearly enough cattle or humans in particular — to understand how the bird flu virus is evolving,” Dr. Celine Gounder told CBS News.
Dr. Rick Bright, a federal virologist turned COVID-19 whistleblower during the Trump administration, said “The rapid spread of H5N1 & the escalation of risk to life & economy could’ve been prevented. It’s sad, but true.”
“That said, we can still stop it, but only if we act swiftly & decisively. We know what to do, but need strong leadership, coordination, collaboration, & funding,” he added.
Dr. Eric Fiegl-Ding, another expert who raised early alarms about COVID-19, has also repeatedly raised the issue within expert communities.
All of those concerns have seemingly fell on deaf ears at the agencies responsible for handling such crises.
If you do plan to invite your MAGA relatives, and you refuse to listen to sound, expert advice and forego the dead bird this year, at least make sure you get your MAGA family to deal with the raw turkey. And serve them the heaviest helpings of anything that might be contaminated.
Other food illnesses
There are eight unrelated and active food pathogen outbreak investigations ongoing with the FDA:
Five outbreaks of E. coli
Two cases of Salmonella
One case of Listeria
Six of those cases are from unknown causes/products. As for the other two:
An organic carrot farm in California was contaminated with E. coli from a neighboring cattle operation.
McDonald’s onions were contaminated with E. coli during production/processing at the Taylor Farms processing center in Colorado Springs, Colorado— a facility that also processes meat products.
E. coli does not naturally occur in plants. Modern use of corn and other starches as cattle feed cause the over-production of E. coli bacteria to breakdown the food in the gut of the cattle. Corn is not part of a cow’s natural diet, and feeding them corn has caused widespread food contamination since corn replaced natural foods in their diets.
Foodborne illness like E. coli sicken about 50 million Americans every year, hospitalizing hundreds of thousands and killing thousands. All contamination of E. coli with food comes from the meat production process.
Remember the baby formula crisis in 2022?
It wasn’t “supply chain” issues that caused a near national crisis, though that’s what the media and even some politicians might have told you. The truth is that “supply chain” issues, in the sense of not having people to produce the products needed, was far less of an issue than the contamination of said products.
Abbott Nutrition, the largest infant formula manufacturer in America, recalled multiple brands of formula due to bacterial infection - specifically Salmonella, Cronobacter, and E. coli.
Salmonella, like E. coli, is a bacteria found in the intestinal tracts of animals, including birds.
The shortage hit lower and middle-income women hardest because programs like WIC only allow purchases from designated manufacturers.
In 2018, Abbot was the largest baby formula vendor in the country, controlling over two-thirds of the market. In 2022, Abbot was the only approved WIC brand manufacturer for 23 states plus Washington, DC.
Like the Adderall shortage that could have been instantly relieved if a simple change in policy was made, the “shortage” was a result of bacterial contamination by meat byproducts and a Congress unwilling to make exceptions in a crisis.
Oh, and the CDC plans to take two weeks off for the holiday and won’t be updating the unacceptably abysmal data they provide for H5N1 until December 2.
It was last updated November 16.
Other public health concerns this holiday season
COVID-19 and Influenza continue to sicken and kill Americans, and with increased travel and transmission, those numbers will likely rise over the next few months.
Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a common, contagious virus that infects the nose, throat, lungs, and breathing passages. It's a leading cause of childhood illness and hospitalizations in infants, and can also cause severe disease in older adults.
RSV cases have been steadily increasing since September, as have influenza cases.
For all three pathogens, wearing a face mask is an effective measure to reduce risk and exposure.
AGU in DC
Do you live in the DMV (DC-MD-VA) area? The American Geophysical Union will be hosting its annual conference in DC next month, December 8-13, 2024. You can learn more about the event, join the AGU, and/or sign up to attend here. I will be at several key sessions, including the Saturday, Dec. 8 workshop, “Science to Action: Practical Skills for Scientists to Participate in and Support Nonviolent Grassroots Activism” and the Wednesday, Dec. 11 AGU Awards Banquet. I hope to see you there!