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217 Today: Bird flu continues to spread. Scientists worry states aren’t testing enough to know the extent of it

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Testing by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration from April found that 20% of retail milk samples showed fragments of the H5N1 virus. That testing included 297 samples from retailers in 17 states coming from processing locations across 38 states. Still, only nine states so far have confirmed bird flu infections among their cow herds. Public health experts worry states just aren't doing enough surveillance to capture the real number of infections.
  • Photo: Ben Thorp / WFYI

Friday, June 7, 2024

Today’s headlines:

  • The long overdue Farm Bill is finally making its way through Congress after the House Agriculture Committee recently advanced a proposal.
  • Green Party presidential hopeful Jill Stein visited Champaign-Urbana to stump with a local Congressional candidate.
  • One effort to change how the Illinois Prisoner Review Board handles medical release hearings made it through the Illinois House, but it didn’t pass the Senate before adjournment in May.
  • Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias announced that Illinois will be awarding $2 million to underserved Illinois public libraries, including in Danville and Decatur.

In today’s deep dive, we’ll learn more about how the bird flu continuing to spread is worrying scientists that states are not testing enough to know about it. 

217 Today is produced by Stephanie Mosqueda. Reporting today contributed by Elizabeth Rembert, Jade Marceau and Benjamin Thorp. 

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Stephanie Mosqueda

Stephanie Mosqueda is a senior majoring in journalism at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign with minors in Spanish and public relations. She is the 217 Today producer and a reporter for the Illinois Student Newsroom.