The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship (IDALS) yesterday reported a highly pathogenic avian flu outbreak at a commercial layer farm in Sioux County in the northwestern corner of the state. Officials told CBS News that the farm has 4.2 million birds, which are slated for culling to curb the spread of the virus.

The outbreak marks Iowa's first avian flu outbreak in poultry this year. The IDALS urged poultry and dairy producers to tighten their biosecurity practices to protect their flocks and herds.

More H5N1 in mammals, wild birds

In other avian flu developments, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) reported 15 more H5N1 detections in mammals, which span six states, including some counties that have reported outbreaks in dairy cattle. Most of the sample collection dates are from the middle of April or later, and detection dates range from late April through the middle of May.

Eight of the detections in four states—New Mexico, Michigan, Montana, and South Dakota—involve domestic cats. Other animals include red fox and a raccoon. A reassortant between the Eurasian and North American wild bird lineage was found in all of the cat samples and in one of the red fox samples.

Also, APHIS reported 12 more H5N1 detections in wild birds, mostly those found dead in East Coast states, including New Hampshire, Maine, Rhode Island, and Virginia. All involved the Eurasian H5N1 strain. All of the new wild-bird detections involve the Eurasian lineage virus.

The organizations collectively known as the Quadripartite today released a set of recommendations and priorities to be considered at the upcoming United Nations (UN) High-level Meeting (HLM) on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR).

The group, which comprises the World Health Organization, the World Organization for Animal Health, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, and the UN Environment Programme, is the latest to make recommendations ahead of the September meeting, which will conclude with a political declaration that will guide global efforts to address AMR. The Quadripartite said that, while the 2016 UN HLM on AMR was a "landmark" in global commitment to tackle AMR, the progress made since then has been insufficient, and greater urgency is needed.

"The HLM on AMR presents a unique opportunity for global leaders to invest in the present and secure our future by enabling effective national and global actions to save millions of lives, safeguard animal health, food safety, food security, protect the environment, and fortify economies against the threats of AMR for years to come," the group said in its policy brief.

Key recommendations

In the brief, the Quadripartite makes five recommendations for UN member states to consider including in the political declaration. The first is to implement measures for effective sub-national, national, regional, and global governance, leadership, and organization. This should include updating the 2016 Global Action Plan on AMR, ensuring that national action plans on AMR include all relevant sectors and have an appropriate accountability framework, formally recognizing the Quadripartite Joint Secretariat as the central coordinating mechanism for the global One Health response to AMR, and creating an independent panel on evidence for action on AMR.

The document also calls on member states to allocate adequate, predictable, and sustainable financing for the AMR response; to commit to actionable targets and bolster monitoring and strategic information systems to guide and accelerate the AMR response; to prevent the emergence and spread of AMR through system-wide transformation across human, animal, plant, and environmental sectors; and to urgently address the crises surrounding research & development and access to effective medication, diagnostics, and other measures.

The HLM on AMR presents a unique opportunity for global leaders to invest in the present and secure our future by enabling effective national and global actions to save millions of lives, safeguard animal health, food safety, food security, protect the environment, and fortify economies against the threats of AMR for years to come.