The California Animal Health and Food Safety Laboratory is the only lab in the state authorized to confirm Avian Flu (bird flu) cases. Therefore it plays a critical in the fight to control the virus as it decimates poultry and dairy farms. The lab, based at the University of California – Davis campus has suffered from mismanagement and a poor work environment, according to current and former employees. The resulting slew of resignations left the lab with just two regular employees earlier this year. The undermanned and inexperienced staff have struggled to process the tests in a timely manner. The employees said that such dysfunction led to a situations that increased the chances of errors occurring. These problems can compromise the ability to curb the spread of the virus. Conducting fast and accurate testing helps the agricultural sector respond more quickly to the threat, which can be the difference between a few cases and a very large outbreak. “Any potential delay in testing could result in greater spread,” explained Richard Webby, a virologist at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
These problems in California are not confined to the state. Public health experts have criticized the lackluster response by federal and state governments throughout the US. Scientists warn that failure to contain the virus has turned a once manageable situation into likely human pandemic that could happen in the not-too-distant future. While there is no evidence of the virus spreading between human currently, scientists have discovered mutations that make person-to-person transmission more likely.
Dr. David Kessler, former FDA commission, said that the government should be conducting bulk tests of milk “to determine the full extent of the infection on these farms and to allow us to contain the virus.” Kessler emphasized that “without mandatory testing, bird flu will continue circulating at farms across the country, which substantially increases the risk that the virus mutates and evolves to allow a human-to-human transmission that will be hard to stop”.
