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Results of recent wastewater testing across the US suggest that H5N1 bird flu may not be the threat it first appeared to be.
The data, released Monday by the non-profit WastewaterSCAN Network, shows the presence of the H5 protein portion of the flu virus, mostly found in Texas and Michigan, at 14 water treatment plants in five states. It has been limited to regions identified as having caused damage to the herd.
“We are not getting H5 everywhere. We only get it in certain places,” said Dr. Alexandria Boehm, professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford University and program director of WastewaterSCAN.
The H5 test was conducted over the past two weeks at 190 monitoring sites across the US. Nine states were not enrolled in the WastewaterSCAN network and therefore were not included in the monitoring: South Carolina, Missouri, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona, Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota, and Oregon.
There were investigations in two states where no affected dairy herds were identified: Iowa and Minnesota. However, both states have recently reported cases of HIV in poultry.
Boehm noted that the researchers are not exactly sure what the sources of H5 in wastewater are. Unused or leftover raw milk can be sent to wastewater treatment plants where samples are collected from permitted effluents.
“For example, in Amarillo, Texas, they had a dairy processing plant that produced dairy products and their waste stream went into the sewage treatment plant, so local milk went into that plant. with H5N1,” Boehm said.
However, this may not be the source in all areas. H5 infection can be caused by human infection, or from sources such as infected wild birds that contaminate water runoff, or when rainwater H5N1 virus enters a sewer.
If H5 shows up in a nearby sewer system, people shouldn't be overly concerned, Boehm said.
“The way we're thinking about it is that wastewater is giving the country an extra tool,” he said, to watch the virus during the outbreak.
Experts say such devices are needed because cattle testing is limited, and farm workers who are most vulnerable to the virus often live on low incomes and may miss days, so they don't seek testing. Work without pay.
As of Tuesday, 81 dairy herds in nine states have been identified as having infected cows. States reporting the report High numbers The affected herds are in Michigan, Idaho and Texas, according to the US Department of Agriculture.
The USDA issued a mandate in late April requiring dairy cattle to test negative for H5N1 before they travel across state lines, but many farmers have been reluctant to let state officials into their farms to conduct additional surveillance for the virus.
USDA Deputy Assistant Secretary Dr. Eric Dable said last week that more than 17,000 cases of H.
But when asked to estimate whether a thousand, tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of cows are affected, Dibble highlights the great uncertainty in understanding the extent of the disease.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention monitors human infection through a representative network of clinics that provide respiratory virus test results to the agency and public health laboratories. He also hopes to conduct epidemiologic studies to better understand the risk of transmission between animals and humans on farms.
as if The study was published on May 29The CDC estimates that 72% and 77% of current surveillance has an H5N1 H.V. At least 100% of the population has HIV.
“These findings suggest that current flu surveillance systems can detect at least one new case of influenza before the virus becomes widespread, prompting CDC to urge health care providers to be vigilant and maintain high levels of testing for signs and symptoms of influenza virus infection during the summer,” the agency said in a news release. It also encouraged providers to forward samples positive for influenza A to public health laboratories for further testing.