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A third farm worker in California has tested positive for bird flu, the state health department announced. This would be the 17th human case of H5N1 flu if confirmed by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In the US since MarchWhen the virus was first discovered in cows.
Farmers and veterinarians in California are warning that the infection is hitting herds harder than in other states, with the percentage of sick and dead cows in affected herds rising.
There are no more serious symptoms Pain in humans. Like the first two human cases in California, this third case involved a farm worker who had contact with sick dairy cattle. The California Department of Public Health said investigators did not see any link between the latest outbreak and the first two cases, suggesting it was another example of animal-to-human transmission. News release. In all three cases, symptoms are light and red, bleeding eyes, a sign of conjunctivitis.
Dr. Nirav Shah, the CDC's executive deputy director, said Friday that these cases were not surprising.
“As more herds continue to test positive, more cases may continue to be discovered,” Shah said.
While public health officials are slowly catching the infection, outside experts say each new human infection is a sign that the outbreak is out of control and that livestock and other people who work with sick animals are not adequately protected.
“These reports only add to my concern that if this virus is left unchecked, it will take a toll on human health,” said Dr. Jennifer Nuzzo, director of the Epidemic Center at Brown University.
“Many people have greatly underestimated the threat of H5N1 in farms, misdiagnosed by a handful of mild cases. But epidemiologists believe that as the number of infected people increases, the likelihood of seeing severe consequences increases, Nuzzo wrote in an email.
“I have seen a little bit that eases my anxiety that this virus will happen It ultimately results in hospitalization or death,” she added.
Since late August, more than 80 flocks have been affected by bird flu in California. As he says The latest update from the US Department of Agriculture. California is the country The largest milk producer.
The California Department of Food and Agriculture has been conducting bulk milk tank sampling in areas where herds have tested positive.
As in Colorado, where bulk milk storage testing is mandated by the state, the testing has helped to quickly identify more affected herds, said Dr. Eric Dibble, USDA H5N1 response senior advisor.
The USDA has sent a strike team to California to monitor the outbreak as the outbreak continues, and the state is looking for ways to expand milk testing beyond known infections.
Even as investigators step up their efforts to track the spread of the virus in California, farmers there are worried that HIV in their herds will remain undetected.
In other states, 10% of the cows in the affected herd showed symptoms, resulting in the death of less than 2% of the animals; As he says American Veterinary Medical Association.
In contrast, dairy farms in California are reporting that the virus is infecting 50% to 60% of their herds and 10% to 15% of cows are dying from the disease. As he says California Milk Quality Assurance Program. There were high infection and death rates in California. First reported The Los Angeles Times
The increase in the severity of cases has raised questions for scientists, who wonder whether environmental factors such as heat are playing a role, or whether the virus is adapting to cows and causing more severe infections.
Scientists say they could have known better that genetic changes could play a role in the virus if state and federal officials had publicly shared more information about the genetics of the viruses they found, and done so sooner.
In California, the first infected herds were found at the end of August. On Monday, the CDC's widely used data-sharing site GISAID shared virus gene sequences isolated from the first two farm workers in the state.
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The same database also contains sequences of cattle shared by the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service that appear to have been recently shared in the United States, but these sequences are missing important information necessary to put them in context. A large outbreak, including the country of origin and date of collection.
The USDA said it will continue to follow the same process it has had throughout the outbreak, uploading raw sequences on Fridays, when they become available, and usually within two weeks of the sample being collected. The agency will add additional information about the sample, including the conditions of collection and the date of collection, six weeks after the completion of the epidemiological investigation.
Other countries, including those in Africa, with basic equipment and minimal resources can share virus sequences within days and often exceed the data provided by the USDA, a GSAID spokesperson told .
Without this information, it is difficult for scientists to track the evolution of the virus and understand whether it is turning into a serious threat.