The World Health Organization (WHO) warned Wednesday that it had only “limited information” on the dissemination of avian flu in the United States, which has ceased exchanges with the UN Institution After the accession to the presidency of Donald Trump.
Shortly after his inauguration, Donald Trump signed a decree aimed at withdrawing his country from the World Health Organization, which he had in the past strongly criticized for his management of the Pandemic of COVID-19.
The director general of the OMS Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus declared to the press that the American government took measures “which have no connection with its intention to withdraw from the WHO, but which we fear that they are have a serious impact on global health ”.
WHO now has only “limited information on the spread of avian flu in dairy cows in the United States or human cases,” he deplored.
Barely a few days after the start of President Trump’s second term, the WHO stopped receiving information on the flu from the American centers for the control and prevention of diseases (CDC), the organization said.
The spread of the H5N1 virus in the United States, which has strongly affected poultry farms and which now affects dairy cows, worries experts who fear a mutation in the virus that would lead to a human pandemic.
These fears have been aggravated with Donald Trump’s desire to reduce federal spending, experts warning that personnel reductions may have an impact on public health surveillance.
Maria Van Kerkhove, Director of the prevention of epidemics and Pandemies at WHO, told the press that WHO was confident about the detection capacities of the United States “to identify zoonotic flu in animals, among humans who work with (…) infected animals ”.
But she worried about the lack of communication from the United States.
A few weeks ago, we had an active dialogue with our colleagues “from different American agencies, and regular technical exchanges, she said.
But since January 24, “we have not had direct communication with CDCs concerning the flu,” she said.
“We communicate with them, but we had no answer.”
Van Kerkhove stressed that the United States has continued to report cases of avian flu and other diseases through the channels of international health regulations.
But the daily communication which for years has passed through the WHO platforms has ceased.