Bird flu spreads among Colorado farmworkers, with nine infected in two weeks – Successful Farming

Nine farmworkers at two egg farms in Colorado have contracted mild cases of bird flu since mid-July while killing and disposing of millions of infected chickens, said public health officials on Thursday. These preliminary results again underscore the risk of exposure to infected animals, said theCenters for Disease Control(CDC), which added that the risk to the general population remains low.

TheColorado Department of Public Healthsaid that approximately 118 people have been tested for the avian flu virus and 10 cases have been confirmed nine on poultry farms since July 12 and one on a dairy farm in May. The national total, which includes three workers on dairy farms in Michigan and Texas, is 13 since April. In addition, a Colorado correctional inmate was infected with the H5N1 virus while culling an infected chicken flock in 2022.

All of the infected poultry workers were employed on egg farms in Weld County, northeast of Boulder six on one farm and three on the other. The CDC and the Colorado Department of Public Health jointly announced confirmation of the outbreak among workers on the second farm.

The three confirmed cases occurred in people who were working directly with infected poultry at a commercial egg layer operation that had reported an outbreak of H5 bird flu among poultry, said the CDC. All three people have mild illness and have been offered the antiviral drug oseltamivir for treatment. State and local officials continue to monitor poultry workers on farms with infected poultry.

According to the CDC, The risk to the general public from H5N1 [avian flu virus] remains low. Genetic tests show that the virus has not changed in ways that would make it more communicable, it said, and there have been no signs of unexpected increases in flu activity in Colorado or the rest of the country.

Highly pathogenic avian influenza has killed nearly 101 million birds in domestic flocks in 48 states since the disease appeared in the United States in February 2022. Some 172 dairy herds in 13 states have been diagnosed with H5N1 infections since late March. Fifty of them are in Colorado.

For weeks, the CDC has said people working with infected or potentially infected livestock should wear protective gear. For jobs like culling infected flocks, workers should wear water-resistant coveralls, masks, goggles, gloves, and boots, it says. Officials have acknowledged that it is difficult to assure compliance during prolonged physical labor in hot weather.

Historically, most human cases of bird flu infection have happened in people who are not wearing recommended personal protective equipment, said the CDC. Investigators will ask about the use of protective equipment on the Colorado farms, it said.

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Bird flu spreads among Colorado farmworkers, with nine infected in two weeks - Successful Farming