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Global health leader critiques ineptitude of U.S. response to bird flu outbreak

Seth Berkley, a longtime and widely respected global health leader, said it has been “shocking to watch the ineptitude” of the U.S. response to #H5N1 bird flu.

I live in Switzerland, but in my home country of the United States, it’s been shocking to watch the ineptitude of just doing the surveillance, being able to talk about it, tracking the infections, understanding where we are. Berkley acknowledged that the USDA has limited authority to compel private farmers to test herds, and that farmworkers — some of whom are likely undocumented migrants — may not want to cooperate with government health officials. But he argued that countries need to have systems in place that can monitor pathogens and inform preparations for the possibility that they start spreading among people.

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