July 16, 2024

 

Three workers in Colorado, US, possibly infected with avian influenza after handling poultry

Three individuals who worked with infected poultry in Colorado, US, are believed to have contracted avian influenza, state health officials announced, potentially bringing the number of US human cases identified since April to seven, The Washington Post reported.

 

The workers exhibited mild symptoms after culling infected poultry at a commercial egg operation. They tested presumptive-positive for the flu, according to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

 

The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will confirm the test results and send a team to Colorado to investigate the infection pathways. The CDC will also analyse the virus sequences to check for mutations.

 

The virus, which has caused outbreaks in dairy cattle and poultry this spring and summer, poses a low risk to the public due to its low likelihood of human-to-human transmission. However, if the virus mutates to spread more easily between people, it could present a higher risk and has "pandemic potential," the CDC stated.

 

"These preliminary results again underscore the risk of exposure to infected animals," the CDC noted. "Historically, most human cases of bird flu infection have occurred in people who were not wearing recommended personal protective equipment."

 

The agency's low-risk assessment for the public remains unchanged following the report of these presumed cases. There has been no increase in flu activity in states affected by the poultry and cattle outbreaks, the CDC reported Friday.

 

If confirmed, these would be the first US human cases linked to infected birds. The four previous cases this spring involved individuals exposed to cattle. These included a Texas dairy worker, two separate cases in Michigan, and another in a Colorado dairy farm employee.

 

The three newly affected workers experienced cold symptoms and pinkeye; none required hospitalisation. The other four infected workers also reported eye inflammation or pinkeye.

 

The bird flu outbreak has impacted more than 99 million poultry and 151 dairy herds in the US. The virus has been detected in over 9,500 wild birds, according to the CDC's latest count.

 

Poultry outbreaks have been identified nationwide, while 12 states have reported outbreaks in dairy cows. Recently, the virus was detected in poultry flocks in Colorado, Iowa, and Minnesota, according to the US Department of Agriculture.

 

The federal government has offered financial incentives to dairy farmers with infected herds for testing their cattle, aiming to encourage testing and control measures. The U.S. government also plans to release a bird flu vaccine this month and has funded Moderna to develop an mRNA-based vaccine.

 

-      The Washington Post