NEW YORK — All live poultry markets in New York City and some of its suburbs were ordered Friday to close for a week after the detection of seven cases of avian flu, which has also hit farms nationwide.

Governor Kathy Hochul said that there was no immediate threat to public health and that the temporary closure of bird markets in the city and its Westchester County and Long Island suburbs came out of an abundance of caution. No cases of avian flu have been detected among humans in New York, officials said. 

The birds infected with the virus were found during routine inspections of live bird markets in the New York City boroughs of the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens. 

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said the virus poses low risk to the general public. The agency said there have been 67 confirmed cases of bird flu in humans in the U.S., with illnesses mild and mostly detected among farmworkers who were exposed to sick poultry or sick dairy cows. 

The first bird flu death in the U.S. was reported last month in Louisiana, with health officials saying the person was older than 65, had underlying medical problems and had been in contact with sick and dead birds in a backyard flock. 

In New York, live bird markets where the virus was detected have to dispose of all poultry in a sanitary manner, according to the state’s order. Other bird markets that do not have cases will have to sell off remaining poultry within three days, clean and disinfect their operations, and then remain closed for at least five days and be inspected by state officials before reopening. 

Ahead of the mandatory disposal order for markets with no cases, employees at La Granja, a halal-certified poultry market in Manhattan’s Harlem neighborhood, raced to sell the remaining inventory: around 200 live chickens of different varieties, along with turkeys, quail, ducks, roosters, pigeons and rabbits. 

Any remaining animals would be slaughtered and given to employees and longtime customers, according to Jose Fernandez, the owner. 

“We’re going to lose money, for now,” he said. “But the law is the law. They know what they’re doing.” 

The H5N1 strain of bird flu has been spreading among wild birds, poultry, cows and other animals. Officials have urged people who come into contact with sick or dead birds to wear respiratory and eye protection and gloves when handling poultry. 

More than 156 million birds nationwide have been affected by the outbreak, many at large farming operations that have had to slaughter their entire flocks. 

Despite growing attention on the avian flu, New York City’s poultry markets appeared to be doing brisk business Friday. 

Outside the Wallabout Poultry market in Brooklyn, a line of customers took numbers and picked their chickens, which employees snatched from crowded cages, weighing them upside down, before taking them to a back room to be slaughtered. 

“I’m not worried about any bird flu,” said Stan Tara, 42, of Brooklyn, as he purchased a large chicken for $22.50. “It’s the same as you buy from the supermarket. A little more expensive, but at least it’s fresh.” 

Some animal rights groups, meanwhile, questioned the purpose of a state order that allowed the markets to continue selling fowl, rather than shutting them down immediately. 

“The public is going into markets where no one knows if there are outbreaks of avian flu, then taking home dead birds that may or may not be infected,” said Edita Birnkrant, executive director of NYCLASS, which has long raised alarms about conditions within the city’s roughly 70 live animal markets. “It’s ludicrous.” 

U.S. egg prices are likely to remain high past Easter and well into 2025, largely because of avian flu, according to CoBank, a Denver-based provider of loans and other financial services to the agriculture sector. 

The highly contagious virus has affected nearly 100 million egg-laying hens in the U.S. since 2022. 

But CoBank said other factors are also causing supply constraints and driving up prices, such as skyrocketing consumer demand for eggs in recent years. Fast-growing breakfast and brunch chains are also eating up supplies. 
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NEW YORK — The U.S. winter virus season is in full force, and by one measure is the most intense in 15 years.

One indicator of flu activity is the percentage of doctor’s office visits driven by flu-like symptoms. Last week, that number was clearly higher than the peak of any winter flu season since 2009-10, according to data posted Friday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Of course, other viral infections can be mistaken for flu. But COVID-19 appears to be on the decline, according to hospital data and CDC modeling projections. Available data also suggests another respiratory illness, RSV, or respiratory syncytial virus, has been fading nationally.

The flu has forced schools to shut down in some states. The Godley Independent School District, a 3,200-student system near Fort Worth, Texas, last week closed for three days after 650 students and 60 staff were out Tuesday.

Jeff Meador, a district spokesman, said most illnesses there have been flu, plus some strep throat. He called it the worst flu season he could remember.

So far this season, the CDC estimates, there have been at least 24 million flu illnesses, 310,000 hospitalizations and 13,000 deaths — including at least 57 children.

Traditionally, flu season peaks around February.

Overall, 43 states reported high or very high flu activity last week. Flu was most intense in the South, Southwest and Western states.

In Rochester, New York, the flu season has been intense but not necessarily worse than at the peak of other years, said Dr. Elizabeth Murray, a pediatric emergency medicine doctor at the University of Rochester Medical Center.

She said there is a lot of flu, but there is also still a lot of RSV and a surprising number of babies with COVID-19.

“All of the respiratory illnesses are around, with a vengeance,” Murray added.

The CDC declined to let an Associated Press reporter speak to an agency flu expert about recent trends. The Trump administration ordered a temporary “pause” on health agency communications and has continued to refuse interview requests that were routinely granted in the past.

U.S. health officials recommend that everyone 6 months and older get an annual flu vaccination.

About 44% of adults got flu shots this winter, the same as last winter. But coverage of children is down, at about 45% this winter. It’s usually around 50%, according to CDC data.

About 23% of U.S. adults were up to date on their COVID-19 vaccinations as of late January, up from about 20% at the same point in time the year before. COVID-19 vaccination rates for kids were about the same, at around 12%.

The government has not yet reported its estimates of how well this season’s flu vaccine is working.

Testing results from patients indicate that two strains of seasonal flu are causing the most illnesses: type A H1N1 and H3N2. Health officials are closely watching a third strain — H5N1 bird flu — that has sickened tens of millions of animals and is known to have infected 67 people in the U.S.

To avoid seasonal viruses, doctors say you should avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth because germs can spread that way. You should also wash your hands with soap and water, clean frequently touched surfaces, and avoid close contact with people who are sick.
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JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA — Some South African organizations that assist people with HIV are in limbo, after the United States put a 90-day freeze on most foreign aid. The U.S. State Department later added a waiver for “lifesaving” aid, but NGOs that have already shut their doors say the next steps aren’t clear, and they are worried this could set back years of progress.

South Africa has the highest number of HIV-positive people in the world — about 8 million — but has also been a huge success story in terms of treatment and preventing new infections.

That’s largely due to the money poured into expert HIV care here, 17% of which comes from a U.S. program called the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, also known as PEPFAR.

But, a 90-day foreign aid funding freeze is in effect, following an executive order by U.S. President Donald Trump last month to check if U.S.-funded programs overseas are aligned with U.S. policies. This has caused some confusion in South Africa with health care organizations and their patients.

Thamsanqa Siyo, an HIV-positive transgender woman in South Africa, is anxious.

“People are frustrated, they’re living in fear, they don’t know what’s going to happen,” said Siyo. “They don’t know if it’s stopped temporarily or not temporarily.”

The Cape Town clinic that Siyo used to go to has now been closed for two weeks.

While the State Department has issued a waiver to continue paying for “lifesaving” services, what that includes remains unclear to many South African organizations that receive funding from PEPFAR.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said this week that the waiver was clear.

“If it saves lives, if it’s emergency lifesaving aid — food, medicine, whatever — they have a waiver,” said Rubio. “I don’t know how much clearer we can be.”

The State Department also issued written clarification and guidance on February 1 regarding which activities are and are not covered by the waiver for PEPFAR programs.

The South African government said it was blindsided by the U.S. aid freeze, according to Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi, who convened a meeting about PEPFAR on Wednesday.

Motsoaledi also said he has sought clarity on the waiver.

“If you say American money cannot be used for LGBTQWI+ and we do the counseling and testing and somebody who falls within that category, transgender, tests positive, can they not be helped?” he asked. “Even if it’s lifesaving?”

Linda-Gail Bekker is a doctor and scientist who heads the Desmond Tutu HIV Center in South Africa.

“This is not one homogenous picture,” said Bekker. “In some places, it’s parts of services that have been stopped. In other places, the whole clinic, if it was supplied by PEPFAR, has been closed down.”

She also said that some transgender health services have been completely closed, and in other areas, counselors haven’t been able to come in.

In addition, she said some services and drugs are no longer available, such as community-based testing and pre-exposure prophylaxis, a medicine that prevents people at high risk from contracting HIV.

Ling Sheperd, who works for Triangle Project, an nongovernmental organization that provides services for the queer community, said there’s a risk of “undoing decades of progress.”

“The impact is devastating,” said Sheperd. “The PEPFAR funding has been a lifeline for millions and it ensures access to HIV treatment, prevention services, and of course community-based health care. And without it we are seeing interruptions in medication supply, clinics are scaling back services, and community health workers have literally been losing their livelihoods.”

About 5.5 million South Africans are on anti-retroviral medication for HIV. Motsoaledi noted that most of that is funded by the government here.

However, he said, a PEPFAR shortfall will affect training, facilities and service delivery. The government said it is working on contingency plans that would reduce dependence on foreign aid in the HIV sector.

On Wednesday, a group of health organizations sent a letter to the South African government saying at least 900,000 patients with HIV were directly affected by the U.S. stop-work orders.
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U.S. dairy cattle tested positive for a strain of bird flu that previously had not been seen in cows, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said on Wednesday, ramping up concerns about the persistent spread of the virus. 

The H5N1 virus has reduced milk output in cattle, pushed up egg prices by wiping out millions of hens, and infected nearly 70 people since April as it has spread across the country. 

Genome sequencing of milk from Nevada identified the different strain, known as the D1.1 genotype, in dairy cows for the first time, the USDA said. Previously, all 957 bird flu infections among dairy herds reported since last March had been caused by another strain, the B3.13 genotype, according to the agency. 

Reuters reported news of the detection of the second strain on Wednesday ahead of USDA’s announcement. 

The second strain was the predominant genotype among wild birds this past fall and winter and has also been found in poultry, the USDA said. It was identified in dairy cattle through an agency program that began testing milk for bird flu in December. 

“We’re seeing the H5N1 virus itself be smarter than all of us,” said Beth Thompson, South Dakota’s state veterinarian.  

“It’s modifying itself so it’s not just staying in the poultry and the wild waterfowl. It’s picking up a home in the mammals.”  

Wild birds likely transmitted the second strain to cattle in Nevada, said J.J. Goicoechea, Nevada’s agriculture director. Farmers need to ramp up safety and security measures to protect their animals, he said. 

“We obviously aren’t doing everything we can and everything we should or the virus wouldn’t be getting in,” he said. 

The Nevada Department of Agriculture said on Jan. 31 that herds in two counties had been placed under quarantine because of bird flu detections.  

It is important for the USDA to contain the outbreak in the state quickly, so the strain does not spread to dairy cattle elsewhere, said Gail Hansen, a veterinary and public health consultant. 

Last year, bird flu spread across the country as infected cattle were shipped from Texas after the virus first leapt to cows from wild birds. 

“We didn’t get a hold on it before,” Hansen said. “We want to avoid that same scenario from happening in Nevada.” 

Dairy herds that were formerly infected may be at risk again from the second strain, experts said. 

“Now it looks like we have new strains of virus that may escape some of the immunity associated with the other strains of viruses that could exacerbate the epidemics among animals and wildlife,” said Gregory Gray, a University of Texas Medical Branch professor studying cattle diseases.  

“It’s alarming.”
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BUENOS AIRES — President Javier Milei has ordered Argentina’s withdrawal from the World Health Organization due to profound differences with the U.N. agency, a presidential spokesperson said Wednesday.

Milei’s action echoes that of his ally, U.S. President Donald Trump, who began the process of pulling the United States out of the WHO with an executive order on his first day back in office on Jan. 21.

Argentina’s decision is based on “profound differences in health management, especially during the [COVID19] pandemic,” spokesperson Manuel Adorni said at a news conference in Buenos Aires. He said that WHO guidelines at the time had led to the largest shutdown “in the history of mankind.”

He also said that the WHO lacked independence because of the political influence of some countries, without elaborating which countries.

Argentina will not allow an international organization to intervene in its sovereignty “and much less in our health,” Adorni said.

The WHO is the United Nations’ specialized health agency and is the only organization mandated to coordinate global responses to acute health crises, particularly outbreaks of new diseases and persistent threats such as Ebola, AIDS and mpox.
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Scientists are testing a novel technique to deter poachers targeting endangered rhinoceroses for their prized horns. As part of a pilot study in South Africa, researchers have injected small, radioactive pellets into the horns of live rhinos. The goal is to make the horns radioactive so there is less demand for them on the black market. Marize de Klerk reports from the UNESCO Waterberg Biosphere Reserve.
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A male nurse in Uganda has died of Ebola, the first recorded death by the disease in the East African country since an outbreak ended in 2023, health officials said.

The 32-year-old nurse worked at Mulago National Specialised Hospital in Kampala, Diana Atwine, permanent secretary of Uganda’s health ministry, said Thursday.

The nurse died Wednesday of the Sudan strain of Ebola, Atwine said.

He sought treatment at several hospitals and had also consulted with a traditional healer before tests confirmed an Ebola diagnosis, health officials said.

World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus posted on X that his organization was supporting Uganda’s efforts to contain an Ebola outbreak in Uganda with a $1 million allocation from WHO’s Contingency Fund for Emergencies.

Atwine said on her X social media account that “rapid response teams are fully deployed, contact tracing is underway, and all necessary measures are in place to contain the situation. We assure the public that we are in full control.”

Contact tracing, however, could be challenging in Kampala, with its population of 4 million people.

The health ministry, however, reported that it had identified 44 contacts of the late nurse, which included 30 other health care workers.

The symptoms of Ebola, an often fatal disease, include fever, vomiting, diarrhea, muscle pain, and at times internal and external bleeding.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, health care workers and family members caring for someone with Ebola are at high risk for contracting the disease.

WHO said Ebola “is transmitted to people from wild animals (such as fruit bats, porcupines and non-human primates) and then spreads in the human population through direct contact with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected people, and with surfaces and materials (e.g., bedding, clothing) contaminated with these fluids.”

Ebola’s fatality rate is around 50%, WHO said on its website, but it also said that fatality rates have varied from 25% to 90% in some outbreaks.
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WASHINGTON — Federal officials on Thursday approved a new type of pain pill designed to eliminate the risks of addiction and overdose associated with opioid medications like Vicodin and OxyContin.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said it approved Vertex Pharmaceuticals’ Journavx for short-term pain that often follows surgery or injuries.

It’s the first new pharmaceutical approach to treating pain in more than 20 years, offering an alternative to both opioids and over-the-counter medications like ibuprofen and acetaminophen. But the medication’s modest effectiveness and lengthy development process underscore the challenges of finding new ways to manage pain.

Studies in more than 870 patients with acute pain because of foot and abdominal surgeries showed Vertex’s drug provided more relief than a dummy pill but didn’t outperform a common opioid-acetaminophen combination pill.

“It’s not a slam dunk on effectiveness,” said Michael Schuh of the Mayo Clinic, a pharmacist and pain medicine expert who was not involved in the research. “But it is a slam dunk in that it’s a very different pathway and mechanism of action. So, I think that shows a lot of promise.”

The new drug will carry a list price of $15.50 per pill, making it many times more expensive than comparable opioids, which are often available as generics for $1 or less.

Vertex began researching the drug in the 2000s, when overdoses were rocketing upward, principally driven by mass prescribing of opioid painkillers for common ailments like arthritis and back pain. Prescriptions have fallen sharply in the last decade and the current wave of the opioid epidemic is mainly due to illicit fentanyl, not pharmaceutical medicines.

Opioids reduce pain by binding to receptors in the brain that receive nerve signals from different parts of the body. Those chemical interactions also give rise to opioids’ addictive effects.

Vertex’s drug works differently, blocking proteins that trigger pain signals that are later sent to the brain.

“In trying to develop medicines that don’t have the addictive risks of opioid medicines, a key factor is working to block pain signaling before it gets to the brain,” Vertex’s Dr. David Altshuler, told The Associated Press last year.

Commonly reported side effects with the drug were nausea, constipation, itching, rash and headache.

“The new medication has side effect profiles that are inherently, not only different, but don’t involve the risk of substance abuse and other key side effects associated with opioids,” said Dr. Charles Argoff of the Albany Medical Center, who consulted for Vertex on the drug’s development.

The initial concept to focus on pain-signaling proteins came out of research involving people with a rare hereditary condition that causes insensitivity to pain.
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WASHINGTON — A key Republican senator on Thursday said he was struggling with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination by President Donald Trump to run the top U.S. health agency, saying he had reservations about the nominee’s “misleading arguments” on vaccines.   

“Your past of undermining confidence in vaccines with unfounded or misleading arguments concerns me,” Republican Senator Bill Cassidy, a physician from Louisiana, told Kennedy. 

“I have been struggling with the nomination,” he said at the end of Thursday’s Senate health committee hearing to consider Kennedy to run the massive Department of Health and Human Services. 

“Does a 70-year-old man … who spent decades criticizing vaccines and who’s financially vested in finding fault with vaccines, can he change his attitudes and approach now that he’ll have the most important position influencing vaccine policy in the United States?” Cassidy said. 

The hearing was the second in two days for Kennedy during which he squared off with Democrats and some Republicans over his past comments on vaccines, abortion and COVID-19 among other topics. 

The Finance Committee, which Kennedy appeared before on Wednesday, has not yet said if it will send Kennedy’s nomination to the full Republican-controlled Senate, which has not rejected any of Trump’s nominees so far. 

A spokesperson for the Finance Committee said a vote could potentially take place next week, but that one had not yet been scheduled.   

Cassidy, who sits on both committees, told Kennedy at the end of Thursday’s hearing that Kennedy would be hearing from him over the weekend, presumably regarding questions he has over the nomination.   

Kennedy’s nomination could fail to move to the Senate for consideration if all Democrats on the Finance Committee voted against him and were joined by Cassidy.   

During wide-ranging questioning on Thursday, Kennedy spoke more confidently than the day prior, adjusting the characterization of previous statements, and saying he would support the U.S. children’s vaccination schedule, research and development for bird flu, and scientific data on vaccine safety. 

Kennedy also said he would address rapidly increasing rates of chronic disease. 

“Our country is not going to be destroyed because we get the marginal tax rate wrong. It is going to be destroyed if we get this issue wrong,” he said of chronic diseases. “And I am in a unique position to be able to stop this epidemic.” 

He was asked about comments he has made over decades, including that it was “highly likely” that Lyme disease was a military bioweapon. He said he never said that it was definitively created in a biolab.   

He would not answer a question from Senator Bernie Sanders about whether he agreed that vaccines do not cause autism. He also said he did not know if the coronavirus vaccine saved millions of lives. 

“If you come out unequivocally, ‘vaccines are safe, it does not cause autism’ that would have an incredible impact,” Cassidy said.   

Kennedy has said vaccines are linked to autism, and he opposed state and federal restrictions imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic. The causes of autism are unclear, though theories that childhood vaccines cause autism have been widely debunked and are contrary to scientific evidence.   

Kennedy, who founded the anti-vaccine group Children’s Health Defense, argued during both hearings that he was not against vaccines. The group has sued in state and federal courts over vaccines. 

“News reports and many in the hearing yesterday have claimed that I’m anti-vaccine and anti-industry. Well, I’m neither,” Kennedy said, repeating that his children are vaccinated.   

Thursday’s hearing in front of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions is a courtesy hearing with no vote involved. However, Republican Senators Cassidy, Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins sit on the committee, all of whom are seen as potential swing votes against Kennedy. 

Supporters of Kennedy wearing “Make America Healthy Again” hats crowded around the committee hearing room on Thursday, while some opposing his confirmation wore “Reject RFK Jr” stickers on their shirts. 

‘Catastrophic’ impacts   

If confirmed, Kennedy would run HHS, which oversees more than $3 trillion in healthcare spending, including at the Food and Drug Administration and the agency in charge of the Medicare and Medicaid health insurance programs covering nearly half of all Americans.   

He said he would follow Trump’s direction on abortion and would hire for his department those who are against abortion rights.   

Kennedy also said gender-affirming care for children has “catastrophic” impacts and that children are not equipped to make judgments about receiving such care. He said he would rescind a Biden-era rule that requires medical providers who receive federal funding to offer gender-affirming care.   

Kennedy said farmers should be offered an off-ramp from chemically intensive agriculture, and that illness in farm communities is “undoubtedly” related to the use of pesticides. Some farm and food groups have expressed concern about Kennedy’s positions on pesticides and food additives.   

Opposition groups have ramped up their efforts to persuade Republican senators to vote against Kennedy. Caroline Kennedy, another member of the storied American political family, on Tuesday urged senators to vote against her cousin’s nomination, calling him a predator with dangerous views on health care. 

Kennedy has also faced scrutiny over his ties to Wisner Baum, a law firm specializing in pharmaceutical drug injury cases. He has an arrangement to earn 10% of fees awarded in contingency cases he refers to the firm, according to a letter Kennedy wrote to an HHS ethics official released last week. 

If confirmed, Kennedy would retain that financial interest in cases that do not directly impact the U.S. government, the letter said.   

If his nomination goes to the full Senate, Kennedy would need the support of at least 50 senators, which would allow Vice President JD Vance to cast another tie-breaking vote to confirm his nomination. 
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Kampala, Uganda — Uganda has confirmed an outbreak of Ebola virus disease in the capital Kampala, with the first confirmed patient dying from the disease on Wednesday, the health ministry said on Thursday.

The patient, a nurse at the Mulago referral hospital in the capital, had initially sought treatment at various facilities, including Mulago after developing fever-like symptoms.

“The patient experienced multi-organ failure and succumbed to the illness at Mulago National Referral Hospital on Jan 29. Post-mortem samples confirmed Sudan Ebola Virus Disease (strain),” the ministry said.

The highly infectious hemorrhagic fever is transmitted through contact with infected bodily fluids and tissue. Symptoms include headache, vomiting blood, muscle pains and bleeding.

Uganda last suffered an outbreak in late 2022 and that outbreak was declared over on Jan. 11, 2023, after nearly four months in which it struggled to contain the viral infection.

The last outbreak killed 55 of the 143 people infected and the dead included six health workers.
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