Federal layoffs affect state resources for bird flu, other animal health concerns

Layoffs at federal health agencies could impact Wisconsin’s ability to respond to animal health issues like avian flu.

The Trump administration has fired thousands of employees at federal health agencies like Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food & Drug Administration. That includes staff at the FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine, which works on public health issues related to animal food and pharmaceutical drugs.

Keith Poulsen, director of the Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostics Laboratory, said the center also coordinates testing standards and data sharing across state labs like his through the Veterinary Laboratory Investigation and Response Network. His lab works closely with the program on identifying patterns in antimicrobial resistance. 

“The agency is still there, but there aren’t people there to make it run in most cases that are directly related to animal and public health,” Poulsen said.

Poulsen said he recently applied for funding to start testing products like raw pet food for the avian flu virus after the FDA identified several cases of raw food transmitting the disease to house cats. He said the national network is critical for not only paying for the tests but making sure state labs are all performing them in the best way.

“We want those results to be the same across the entire country,” he said. “We can’t have 50 different states doing different things. It’s much more efficient if we have a national coordinated effort.”

Poulsen said he and his colleagues from other states were not expecting the cuts within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to be this severe. While the Trump administration walked back previous firings that hurt the federal response to bird flu, Poulsen said he’s worried about similar cuts coming to the U.S. Department of Agriculture and how it could affect critical resources like the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.

“Everything’s really on the table as a potential for an immediate cut,” he said. “How can we make sure we don’t lose our expertise in that and then build back (services) better?”

The latest case of avian flu in Wisconsin was confirmed in Sheboygan County on Friday by the state Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection. The virus was found on a commercial poultry farm with roughly 40,000 birds.

DATCP said in a press release that state officials are working with USDA on a “joint incident response.” The Wisconsin Department of Health Services and Sheboygan County Public Health are monitoring exposed farm workers for symptoms of the highly-contagious virus. 

The state DATCP did not respond to WPR’s request for comment on the impacts of federal layoffs in time for publishing.

In February, the USDA announced a new strategy to respond to the continued spread of avian flu and lower consumer egg prices. The plan has included fast tracking the development of an H5N1 vaccine and “explore ways to reduce the extent of depopulations while maintaining food safety standards.”

Poulsen said while the agency is rolling out new messaging, there have not been major updates to the USDA’s guidance to states. 

“In the end, the policies haven’t changed yet,” he said. “So we see (the messages) as kind of whispers of change or suggestions that leadership is going to go one way or another, and hopefully we’ll have input.”