Bird flu

 Data: USDA; Chart: Axios Visuals

Axios - The most immediate concern is how the spread of the disease in commercial poultry flocks could drive up food prices.

• "It's happening pretty fast and doesn't seem to be slowing down and I'm really very unclear about what the U.S.'s approach is going to be," said Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization at the University of Saskatchewan.
• Infections have also been identified in dairy cows, cats and other mammals in a half dozen states in recent months.  
• Public health officials say the federal response is hampered by staff cuts at both the CDC and USDA, immigration enforcement on farms and the government shutdown, which has suspended activities like a weekly call among animal health laboratories.
• Concern has since grown in public health circles after the administration gutted the White House Office of Pandemic Preparedness.
• Meanwhile, vaccination rates for animals have lagged as farmers await shots, said Keith Poulsen, director of the Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory. The administration also pulled funding for an mRNA vaccine for bird flu in people.

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