California health officials reported two confirmed cases of H5N1 bird flu infection in Central Valley dairy workers on Thursday afternoon.
Both cases were in Tulare County – the nation’s largest dairy producing county. With more than 600,000 dairy cows, the county Generates about 30% of the state’s milk production,
Officials say the presumptive case they announced Thursday morning has been confirmed as H5 by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, along with one additional case.
These are the first two cases of bird flu reported in California.
Erica Pan, an epidemiologist with the California Department of Public Health, said there was no known link or contact between the two cases, and the two infected people did not work on the same dairy farm. He said there is no evidence of human-to-human spread.
He said both workers had mild symptoms, and the risk to the general public is low, although a news release sent out by the department said people who interact with infected animals are at higher risk of getting bird flu. Is.
These two cases bring the total number of humans infected with bird flu by sick dairy cattle to six. Since the beginning of the year, there have been 16 cases of bird flu in the U.S., nine of which were linked to contact with poultry infected with avian influenza A, or H5N1.
In one case in Missouri, investigators have been unable to determine the source of the viral infection — the individual had no known contact with dairy, poultry or raw milk.
“Ongoing health screening of individuals who interacted with potentially infected animals helped us quickly detect and respond to this potential human case. Fortunately, as we have seen in other states with human infections, the individual experienced mild symptoms,” said Dr. Tomas J. Aragon said in a news release.
As of Friday, officials had reported 56 infected dairy herds in the state since the virus was first reported in a Central Valley herd in late August. Across the country, there are 256 herds in 14 states have been officially reported to have the virusAccording to the US Department of Agriculture.
Experts say they are not surprised that employees have been infected.
“With the rapid spread in California and the discovery of more infected herds, this is to be expected,” said Rick Bright, a virologist and former head of the US Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority. “This outbreak of H5N1 is becoming more worrying by the day.”
John Korslund, a retired USDA veterinary epidemiologist, agreed.
“This is to be expected,” he said in an email. “If testing could be done on every newly infected farm as soon as the first workers showed any clinical signs (eyes or respiratory), we are confident that California could contain 5-10 human cases a day “The level of human testing is extremely low given the number of newly exposed people, and even when testing is done it usually happens too late.”
He said the bigger question that should be asked is “the degree of spread among family members and other non-infected households.”
He noted the case in Missouri, where Reports have suggested That a person living in the infected person’s household had similar symptoms but was not tested. Additionally, several health workers who came in contact with the infected person also reported similar symptoms.
They were not even tested.
“Hopefully all the publicity about the Missouri case will increase pressure on local public health departments to conduct honest, complete and follow-up visits to affected families,” he said in an email. “Sporadic human spread (from cows) is no big deal, but as evidence of human-to-human spread emerges, the need for aggressive testing increases. ,
Pan, the state epidemiologist, said state and local health investigators were conducting “contact tracing” and were also currently looking for people who may have been exposed.
“I think it’s probably common sense that a lot of employees live together,” she said. “So, you’re actually interviewing people about who they spend time with, who they live with. Obviously, for most or many infectious diseases, the people most at risk are people you live with, or with whom you are intimate, or other people with whom you spend close time.
He said the only symptoms the two California dairy workers had were conjunctivitis, or pink eye.
None of the workers reported respiratory symptoms, nor were they hospitalized. Both people have been asked to isolate at home and have been offered antiviral medication, Pan said. She said she knew that one of the two had started taking drugs; He had no knowledge about the other person.
“The situation is still early,” he said, adding that health officials and even patients became aware of the infection only recently.
PAN did not provide any further information about the workers – such as age, gender or location – to protect their privacy.
Asked whether workers were wearing personal protective equipment despite the record-breaking heat across the state, he said reports showed they were. But even if they wear safety glasses on their eyes to protect themselves from splashes of milk, droplets can still get in.
He said droplets of infected milk falling directly into the eyes were the most likely route of exposure for these workers.
Officials say people who have come into contact with infected animals may experience redness of the eyes (conjunctivitis), cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, diarrhea, vomiting, muscle or body aches, headache, fatigue, shortness of breath. Attention should be paid to difficulty taking and fever. 10 days after exposure.
If they start feeling sick they should isolate themselves and contact their local public health department,
“This virus is out of control,” Bright said, adding that he hopes California will be “more candid and transparent with the data” than he has seen elsewhere.
“It is time for urgent and serious leadership and action to prevent further transmission and mutation. “The concept of letting it burn through food animals with voluntary testing without monitoring has failed,” he said. “There are pandemic playbooks that we need to dust off and start implementing.”
