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Michigan stands out for its aggressive bird flu response. Will other states follow its lead?
For weeks now, as the H5N1 bird flu has been spreading into dairy cattle herds in more and more places, one state continues to lead the pack. With reports of infections in 25 herds, Michigan currently accounts for about one-third of the country’s confirmed cases in livestock. And of the three people known to have contracted the H5N1 virus from sick cows since the outbreak began, two of them are farmworkers in Michigan, including one who experienced respiratory symptoms.
This has led many scientists and public health officials following the situation to wonder among themselves: What exactly is going on in Michigan? But not for the reason you might think. Of the half-dozen experts STAT spoke to for this story, none believed that the virus was acting differently there, or that state policies were throwing open the door to uncontrolled spread. On the contrary, the reason Michigan has become such an apparent hotspot is because its public health response has been uniquely robust.
