Bird flu virus has been detected in dairy cows in the United States for the first time.
The detection of the H5N1 virus suggests there is now a new phase in the virus' spread among mammals, researchers from Atlanta's Emory University said.
"We have moved into new territory," Thomas Gillespie, an ecologist, professor, and chair of Emory University's Department of Environmental Sciences, said in a statement. "You can find this trend around the world, almost anywhere you look. This virus has an extremely broad range of hosts that it is able to infect."
Bird flu has been spreading among animals since 2022. This latest finding clearly shows a global pattern among the virus.
Scientists have long known that bird flu can infect mammals. They generally catch it when they are exposed to the virus in a contaminated environment or when they eat infected birds. However, it seems the number of mammals contracting the virus is increasing rapidly.
The virus is killing masses of elephant seals, sea lions, and seals in South America. In March 2023, 3,487 sea lions were reported dead in Peru, most of them from the virus.
According to Gillespie, there needs to be more research into how the virus is spreading so rapidlyespecially as other factors, such as climate change, are also threatening the world's mammals.
It is possible that there is another, previously undetected cause of its spread. According to Gillespie, the virus may now be being transferred from mammal to mammal.
"Not enough surveillance is done in wildlife to know for sure how the virus is spreading," Gillespie said in a statement. "Some of the species that are at risk for bird flu are already battling the stressors of climate change and loss of habitat."
Since 2022, bird flu has been found in 200 mammals in the U.S. More recently, a study detailed the first-ever case of a bottlenose dolphin in the U.S. Other mammals, such as foxes, bobcats, mountain lions, coyotes, and black and brown bears, have contracted the virus.
In 2023, a polar bear became the first of its species to die from the virus. Bird flu has even made its way into the remote Antarctic, having been detected in native animals there including birds and elephant seals.
Each time a new mammal is found with the virus, it presents a new risk of its being transferred to others. It also gives the virus more chances to mutate, making it more dangerous. This, in turn, could make it more transmissible to humans. The current risk to humans is very low; however, that does not mean this won't change in the future.
Gillespie notes that bird flu detected in pigs presents a very worrisome scenario. Due to their immune systems' similarities with humans, the animals can act as mixing vessels for viruses.
He said that deforestation and industrialized animal production are both major factors driving the risk of pandemics. He called for reducing animal product consumption to mitigate these risks.
"The resulting cheap meat that we buy does not reflect the true costs to the ecosystems that sustain us," Gillespie said. "If we want to live sustainably, we need to cut down on the amount of animal products that we consume. That will be a win-win for human health and for planetary health."
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
A third person has tested positive for the H1N5 (bird flu) virus and is the first to suffer from respiratory problems, according to Reuters.
>> Read more trending news
The dairy worker was exposed to infected cows, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said, and was the second case of human infection in Michigan.
According to the CDC, the other two workers infected had only conjunctivitis pink eye not respiratory problems.
The person is isolating at home, the CDC said, and their symptoms are resolving. The persons contacts are also being monitored.
Since March, the avian flu in dairy cattle has affected 67 herds in nine states. The worker was employed at a different farm than the previous case in Michigan that was reported on May 22, the state said.
The U.S. government is collecting samples of ground beef at retail stores in states with outbreaks of bird flu in dairy cows, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said.
In addition, remnants of the virus were found in milk from some of those cows that was on grocery store shelves.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Friday that preliminary results of PCR (Polymerase chain reaction) tests showed pasteurization killed the bird flu virus in milk, though.
On April 16, the USDAs Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service microbiologists identified a shift in an H5N1 sample from a cow in Kansas that could indicate that the virus has an adaptation to mammals, according to a statement from the USDA.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention conducted further tests of the specimen sequence and said the overall risk factor of the virus infecting the general public had not changed.
The shift has been seen previously in other mammalian infections and it did not impact viral transmission, the agency said.
Michigan
Farm worker who had contact with sick cows tests positive for H5N1, making it the second case detected in Michigan
Thu 30 May 2024 15.51 EDT
A third person has now tested positive for H5N1 in the US, the second case to be detected in Michigan, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced on Thursday.
A farm worker who had contact with sick cows tested positive for the virus. This new case does not seem to indicate human-to-human transmission of the highly pathogenic avian flu, as it was detected on a different farm from the previous Michigan case, officials said.
Only 39 people in the US have been tested for H5N1 over the course of the 2024 outbreak, according to the CDC. More than 350 people are being monitored for symptoms, which includes 220 people in Michigan, officials said.
H5N1 was also recently detected in the muscle of a dairy cow intended for beef consumption. No additional viral particles have been detected in other beef samples, and the infected meat did not enter the food supply, US Department of Agriculture (USDA) officials said.
The USDA also announced on Thursday $824m in new funding to protect livestock health during this outbreak. The agency has not yet announced plans to reimburse affected farms for lost production, which could help spur reporting of cases.
This is the first time in the US outbreak a person with H5N1 has displayed respiratory symptoms, unlike the previous two cases with only conjunctivitis, commonly known as pink eye.
The respiratory symptoms are concerning because they increase the odds of exposing someone to the virus as compared to conjunctival symptoms, Dr Nirav Shah, principal deputy director of the CDC told reporters on Thursday. Someone whos coughing may be more likely to transmit the virus than someone who has an eye infection like conjunctivitis.
But no close contacts, including other workers on the farm, have reported symptoms so far, he said.
To date, none of this individuals close contacts have developed or reported any symptoms, and they have been offered Tamiflu, Shah added.
The person received influenza antivirals and is recovering, he said.
Officials have not seen anything in our genetic analysis thus far to suggest changes to the virus that might make it more easily transmitted among humans, Shah said.
Shah noted that the second human case in Michigan was not unexpected, saying: Indeed, the team in Michigan, to their credit, is actively identifying workers who might be ill, and doing so helps us ensure that those workers are offered appropriate treatment.
While many farmers and farm workers around the country have been reluctant to get tested, Michigan has been an outlier. The cases of bird flu in people were detected via their monitoring program that includes daily text messages to check on symptoms even mild symptoms like eye irritation.
Officials in Michigan are also conducting serological studies to understand whether farm workers have previously been infected with H5N1.
Shah highlighted the importance of using personal protective equipment for workers in close contact with animals, but acknowledged the difficulties of wearing such equipment during hot summer weather.
The CDC asked states to continue monitoring for flu over the summer a time when monitoring typically slows down due to low viral circulation.
CDC recently took steps to enhance influenza surveillance over the summer. Specifically, CDC is working with commercial laboratories to increase their admissions of influenza positive test specimens to public health laboratories during this normally low summer season of influenza activity, Shah said.
The CDC has ordered 4.8m H5N1 vaccines that seem well-matched to this strain, and is considering vaccinating agricultural workers and others at risk.
At this time, the CDC does not recommend H5N1 vaccination for anyone, even farm workers.
Right now, there is nobody for whom vaccination is recommended, said David Boucher, director of infectious diseases preparedness and response at the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response. But that is obviously something were always looking for.
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A case of highly pathogenic avian influenza has been detected in alpacas for the first time, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Tuesday.
The small group of alpacas, which are members of the camel family, tested positive for the highly pathogenic virus after a poultry flock on the same farm became infected, according to the University of Minnesotas Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy.
The USDA said the positive test results for the alpacas were not a surprise since the livestock on the southern Idaho farm share a habitat.
Officials said that the virus found in the alpacas has the same genotype as the virus that is currently infecting dairy cows and poultry across the U.S.
Its not uncommon for mammals like alpacas to catch the virus. According to the USDAs Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service avian flu data, cases have been found in domestic cats, red foxes, opossums, raccoons and bobcats within the last month.
Animals and Insects
8:29 PM, Mar 21, 2024
The risk for humans contracting the virus remains low, the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control said.
There have only been three confirmed cases of bird flu infecting humans in the U.S. since 2022. Two of those cases were reported this year, and both were farmworkers who had been exposed to infected dairy cows.
As of May 2, almost every state has suffered an outbreak of the virus in its poultry livestock totaling over 92 million birds. Experts have warned the ongoing outbreak could impact egg and chicken supplies.
Bird Flu
8:20 AM, May 29, 2024
Nine states have reported outbreaks of bird flu in 67 dairy cattle herds. Michigans dairy farms have suffered more than any other state, with 21 herds testing positive for the virus.
Since the first cases of bird flu were detected in dairy cows back in March, the USDA has implemented several new regulations as a precaution, including mandatory testing for dairy cows that are moved from one state to another, and barring milk from sick cows from entering the market, even though the Food and Drug Administration has maintained that pasteurization has kept the milk supply safe.
Health
8:10 PM, Apr 23, 2024
Although no cases have been reported in beef cattle, the USDAs Food Safety Inspection Service tested samples of ground beef sold at grocery stores for the presence of avian flu and those tests came back negative.
The agency also tested tissue and muscle samples from cull dairy cows, which are dairy cows that are sent to slaughter for various reasons, at its mandated facility. Out of the 96 samples examined, only one contained viral particles which the USDA said provides further confidence that the food safety system we have in place is working.
U.S. News
8:10 PM, May 10, 2024
A third person has contracted bird flu in the U.S. amid this year's outbreak.
On Wednesday, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services announced it had detected the virus in one of the state's farmworkers who worked closely with cows positive for influenza A.
This is the second human case of bird flu to come out of Michigan this month. The first, announced on May 22, was found in a worker from a different farm who "had regular exposure to livestock" infected with the virus, MDHHS said.
Both cases come as the influenza virus has been traveling among dairy and poultry farms across the country since March, when the first case was confirmed in Texas dairy cattle. Soon after, a Texas farmworker became the first known person in the world to catch this strain of the virus from a mammal.
Bird Flu
8:20 AM, May 29, 2024
Despite 66 dairy herds in nine states now confirmed to have the bird flu, according to the U.S. Agriculture Department, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention still says the risk to the public remains low, so long as individuals aren't in close contact with infected animals.
Neither of the infected Michigan farmworkers was wearing full personal protective equipment when in contact with the sick cows, with the first experiencing eye discomfort symptoms from the virus after a "direct splash of infected milk to the eye." The second case also featured eye discomfort, as did the Texas case, along with respiratory symptoms like a cough. That worker received antivirals and is now recovering.
"PPE is an important tool in preventing spread among individuals who work on dairy and poultry farms," MDHHS said. "We have not seen signs of sustained human-to-human transmission, and the current health risk to the general public remains low."
In total, there have only been four cases of Type A H5N1 virus in the U.S. The true first, before this year's Texas farmworker, occurred in 2022 in Colorado when a prison inmate working at a poultry farm became sick while killing infected birds.
"I would use the word 'endemic' at this point," one expert told Local 5.
DES MOINES, Iowa Iowa recorded itsfirst bird flu case of 2024earlier this week. But as farms across the country experience a new wave of the virus, experts say this time may be different.
"[It's on a] pretty different scale, a lot more drawn out this time and a lot more different variables this time," said Yuko Sato, Iowa State University Poultry Extension Veterinarian and Diagnostician.
Bird flu, more formally known as Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI), has been affecting Iowa farms since 2022. More than 90 million birds have been killed because of the virus nationwide, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Experts say food is safe, but farmers are having to make adjustments.
"Stepping up their biosecurity is sort of their new normal at this point," Sato said.
Sato shared that farmers have increased biosecurity efforts to ensure the health and safety of their entire flocks, similar to the way people had to begin wearing masks during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sato says this increased security is necessary because of the wide variety of birds that can be impacted.
"It really doesn't matter, it could be a chicken flock, a turkey flock, a duck flock, you know, all those birds are equally affected by the virus," Sato said. "It doesn't matter what the size the farm is or what type of operation they are, it equally hits birds."
Even when birds are healthy, farmers are always testing for HPAI.
"In a way, it's almost here to stay," Sato said. "I would use the word 'endemic' at this point because the virus has not left the country."
Another strand of HPAI was found in dairy cattle in nine different states. So far, there have been no reports of dairy cattle in Iowa being impacted by the virus.
TUESDAY, May 28, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- Bird flu virus has been detected in beef tissue from a sick dairy cow, but U.S. health officials stressed the country's meat supply remains safe.
In an update issued Friday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said the cow had been culled because it was sick and the meat did not enter the food supply.
The agency stressed that it "is confident that the meat supply is safe. USDA has a rigorous meat inspection process, which includes Food Safety and Inspection Service [FSIS] veterinarians who are present at all federal livestock slaughter facilities. FSIS personnel inspect each animal before slaughter, and all cattle carcasses must pass a second inspection after slaughter and be determined to be fit to enter the human food supply."
So far, the agency "has conducted tests on beef tissue from 96 cull[ed] dairy cows condemned at select FSIS-inspected facilities... On May 22, 2024, viral particles were detected in tissue samples, including muscle, from one cow. To date, samples from 95 cows have tested negative for viral particles.No meat from these dairy cattle entered the food supply."
Still, the positive test raises concerns about whether the virus might eventually find its way into the commercial beef supply.
So far, the virus, also known as H5N1, has only been detected in dairy cattle and not in the beef cattle that are raised for meat. But experts believe the outbreak is bigger than what has been reported to this point.
Its evident that this is widespread and will require constant vigilance, Brian Ronholm, director of food policy at Consumer Reports, told the New York Times.
While the overall risk to consumers remains low, he added it will be important for consumers to make sure they cook meat to the proper temperature for additional assurance.
Dr. Gail Hansen, an independent food safety and veterinary health expert, told the Times that, People do eat meat rare and even raw. So, once again, the assurances from government agencies, before the science is in to confirm or deny the assumptions, continue to undermine the confidence by the public.
The USDA said the fact that inspectors identified the ill cow and prevented its meat from entering the food supply proved that its safety protocols are working. The agency has not yet found virus in ground beef samples collected from retail outlets in states where cows have tested positive.
Earlier this month, the USDAreleased resultsfrom a study in which researchers added high concentrations of the virus to beef patties. The researchers found no virus when the meat was cooked to 160 degrees Fahrenheit (F), the internal temperature of a well-done burger, or 145 degrees F, the temperature of a medium-cooked burger.
But there was virus in rare burgers, cooked to 120 degrees, although at lower levels.
All indications are: You cook your food, even if theres virus in there, it will kill it, Stacey Schultz-Cherry, a virologist and influenza expert at St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital, told the Times.
Matthew Moore, a food science expert at the University of Massachusetts, told the Times that experts would like to know whether the virus found in the beef tissue was viable or inactivated. Whether people can contract bird flu by eating contaminated food also remains a mystery.
Still, a studypublished on Fridayfound that unpasteurized milk contaminated with the virus sickened mice, heightening concerns among experts that consuming raw milk could harm humans.A significant number of catshave also died after drinking contaminated raw milk, recent research showed.
More information
The CDC has the latest on bird flu.
SOURCES: U.S. Department of Agriculture, news release, May 24, 2024; New York Times
Another Michigan farmworker has been diagnosed with bird flu, the third human case associated with an outbreak in U.S. dairy cows, health officials said Thursday.The dairy worker reported a cough, congestion, sore throat and watery eyes. The other two patients had only eye symptoms, health officials said. The farmworker was given antivirals and is recovering from respiratory symptoms, health officials said.Video above: What you need to know about how bird flu spreadsThe risk to the public remains low, although farmworkers exposed to infected animals are at higher risk, health officials said. The Michigan cases occurred on different farms and there are no signs of spread among people, officials said."Risk depends on exposure, and in this case, the relevant exposure is to infected animals," the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a statement.A human case with respiratory symptoms was not unexpected flu-like symptoms have been seen in past cases of people who got other strains of bird flu from poultry. But it does raise the odds of possible spread, said the CDC's Dr. Nirav Shah."Simply put, someone who's coughing may be more likely to transmit the virus than someone who has an eye infection" he said.In late March, a farmworker in Texas was diagnosed in what officials called the first known instance globally of a person catching this version of bird flu H5N1 Type A from a mammal.Last week, Michigan officials announced the second U.S. case. That worker developed eye symptoms after "a direct splash of infected milk to the eye," Michigan health officials said in a statement.Neither of the Michigan workers was wearing face shield or other personal protective equipment, which "tells us that direct exposure to infected livestock poses a risk to humans, and that PPE is an important tool in preventing spread among individuals who work on dairy and poultry farms," Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian, the chief medical executive of Michigan's health department, said in a statement.There are 100,000 to 150,000 workers on U.S. dairy farms, the United Farm Workers estimates.Many dairy workers are reluctant to wear protective gear such as masks when working with cows in "some of the wettest conditions imaginable," said UFW spokeswoman Elizabeth Strater. The organization has called for better access to equipment such as face shields and for more information from employers about the risk of infection on the affected farms."Most dairy workers are not that aware of how to protect themselves," Strater said.About 350 people in the U.S. have been monitored for bird flu symptoms this year, including at least 220 in Michigan, health officials said.More than 40 people have been tested for the virus in the U.S., according to the CDC. Numbers from Michigan health officials suggest most of them were in that state.Since 2020, the bird flu virus has been spreading among more animal species including dogs, cats, skunks, bears and even seals and porpoises in scores of countries.As of Thursday, H5N1 has been confirmed in 66 dairy herds in nine states, according to the U.S. Agriculture Department.The new case marks the fourth time a person in the United States has been diagnosed with the virus. In 2022, a Colorado prison inmate in a work program picked it up while killing infected birds at a poultry farm. His only symptom was fatigue, and he recovered. That was before the virus was found in cows.___The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Another Michigan farmworker has been diagnosed with bird flu, the third human case associated with an outbreak in U.S. dairy cows, health officials said Thursday.
The dairy worker reported a cough, congestion, sore throat and watery eyes. The other two patients had only eye symptoms, health officials said. The farmworker was given antivirals and is recovering from respiratory symptoms, health officials said.
Video above: What you need to know about how bird flu spreads
The risk to the public remains low, although farmworkers exposed to infected animals are at higher risk, health officials said. The Michigan cases occurred on different farms and there are no signs of spread among people, officials said.
"Risk depends on exposure, and in this case, the relevant exposure is to infected animals," the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a statement.
A human case with respiratory symptoms was not unexpected flu-like symptoms have been seen in past cases of people who got other strains of bird flu from poultry. But it does raise the odds of possible spread, said the CDC's Dr. Nirav Shah.
"Simply put, someone who's coughing may be more likely to transmit the virus than someone who has an eye infection" he said.
In late March, a farmworker in Texas was diagnosed in what officials called the first known instance globally of a person catching this version of bird flu H5N1 Type A from a mammal.
Last week, Michigan officials announced the second U.S. case. That worker developed eye symptoms after "a direct splash of infected milk to the eye," Michigan health officials said in a statement.
Neither of the Michigan workers was wearing face shield or other personal protective equipment, which "tells us that direct exposure to infected livestock poses a risk to humans, and that PPE is an important tool in preventing spread among individuals who work on dairy and poultry farms," Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian, the chief medical executive of Michigan's health department, said in a statement.
There are 100,000 to 150,000 workers on U.S. dairy farms, the United Farm Workers estimates.
Many dairy workers are reluctant to wear protective gear such as masks when working with cows in "some of the wettest conditions imaginable," said UFW spokeswoman Elizabeth Strater. The organization has called for better access to equipment such as face shields and for more information from employers about the risk of infection on the affected farms.
"Most dairy workers are not that aware of how to protect themselves," Strater said.
About 350 people in the U.S. have been monitored for bird flu symptoms this year, including at least 220 in Michigan, health officials said.
More than 40 people have been tested for the virus in the U.S., according to the CDC. Numbers from Michigan health officials suggest most of them were in that state.
Since 2020, the bird flu virus has been spreading among more animal species including dogs, cats, skunks, bears and even seals and porpoises in scores of countries.
As of Thursday, H5N1 has been confirmed in 66 dairy herds in nine states, according to the U.S. Agriculture Department.
The new case marks the fourth time a person in the United States has been diagnosed with the virus. In 2022, a Colorado prison inmate in a work program picked it up while killing infected birds at a poultry farm. His only symptom was fatigue, and he recovered. That was before the virus was found in cows.
___
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Our unequal earth
Officials are incentivizing testing, but experts say workers need protective equipment and paid sick leave to limit spread
Wed 29 May 2024 06.00 EDT
On a US dairy farm, working in the milking parlor can mean seven-day weeks, 12-hour shifts and intimate contact with cows and everything they expel.
When you disconnect the machine from the udder, it can shoot milk in your face, said Jos Martnez, a former dairy worker and United Farm Workers advocate based in Washington state. And theres no time or place to eat. So we ate our tacos in spare moments with cow shit on our hands.
Conditions on US dairy farms are in the spotlight since the H5N1 influenza virus, which has decimated bird populations around the world, jumped species and adapted to spread between cows. That makes dairy farm workers the frontline for spillover infections into humans.
As of 24 May, there are 58 known infected herds across the US. Two human infections have been documented, in dairy farm workers in Texas and Michigan. But there are anecdotal reports of other farm workers with mild symptoms.
One-off spillover infections between species are not in themselves enough to cause a pandemic. That would require the virus to adapt to spread easily between humans, as it has to spread between cows.
The probability of the virus accumulating the right combination of mutations to do this is low. But influenza is known for its ability to evolve, and a sluggish public health response is giving this H5N1 an opportunity to become entrenched in cows a species that has a lot of close contact with humans.
Just because we had a coronavirus pandemic doesnt mean were done, said Michael Osterholm, an epidemiologist at the University of Minnesota. The pandemic clock is ticking. We just dont know what time it is.
Since H5N1 was discovered in US cows, scientists have scrambled to define the situation.
Yet many unknowns remain, for example how many states and herds are affected, how it spreads between cows, how the two human cases were infected and whether they are the only ones.
Genomic sequence data from infected cows suggests that the virus jumped from a bird to a cow probably late last year, meaning it circulated among cows for months before it was detected.
One theory is that a dead infected bird got into cow feed, then it began spreading cow to cow through milking machines, and the dairy farm workers were infected because of milk getting into their eyes, as Martnez described.
Wastewater testing has flagged several sites across the US where levels of influenza but not specifically H5N1 are unusually high for this time of year, though the source remains unclear.
Meanwhile, a nationwide survey of retail milk by the US Department of Agriculture found noninfectious remnants of H5N1 viruses in one in five samples tested, though those samples were still safe to drink.
But to really understand what is happening would require better access to dairy farms, say experts.
Right now, I feel like we have both hands tied behind our back, said Osterholm. Largely, American agriculture interests have not wanted to know whats going on. And theyve made it difficult for public health workers to get to farms.
Part of the problem is that producers have little incentive to cooperate with authorities.
Infected cows are only experiencing mild symptoms before recovering, meaning there is only a transient effect on milk production.
But if authorities found a positive cow on their farm, that could mean having to shut down operations. And cows would still need to be milked, so producers would have to pay for labor while dumping the product.
If you find cows that are positive on your farm, your reward for that is potentially financial ruin, said Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada.
On 10 May, the USDA announced a package of financial incentives up to $28,000 per farm over the next four months to encourage testing and biosecurity on dairy farms.
But it neglected perhaps the most important element: the workers.
In my opinion, the focus should be on the dairy farm worker, said Amy Liebman of the non-profit Migrant Clinicians Network. And that worker that immigrant worker gets lost in this approach.
There are perhaps 150,000 dairy farm workers in the US, according to Elizabeth Strater, from the United Farm Workers union. The great majority are probably undocumented.
These workers are the people most exposed to H5N1 and the least protected.
Dairy cattle are handled pretty intimately, said Strater. Workers in the milking parlor might spend 12 hours a day with their face about 6in away from udders.
It varies from farm to farm, but in some cases workers live in communal housing, which makes self-isolation difficult and facilitates the spread of infectious disease.
Experts agree that there has probably been more than just the two human infections.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are relying on passive surveillance: people showing up in emergency rooms of their own accord, and happening to be tested for influenza.
But the barriers for a dairy farm worker to seek out medical attention are immense.
Very few have health insurance, said Bethany Alcauter, from the National Center for Farmworker Health. They make very low wages. Dairies are typically in pretty remote places. And then they work very long shifts.
Theyre unlikely to go to the emergency room for anything that isnt life-threatening, said Strater. In fact, theyre avoiding testing because they know they wont get any compensation if theyre ordered to stop working.
In its package of financial incentives, the USDA offered $75 to workers who get tested. Thats not even a days lost work, said Strater. And thats a very bad gamble for someone that might miss weeks.
As it stands, no dairy worker has died from H5N1, nor have clusters of sick people appeared in emergency departments, which implies the virus has not adapted to spread between humans.
If there were large outbreaks of a severe respiratory disease, wed pick that up even without surveillance, said Osterholm. But that could all change overnight.
In the short term, experts are asking for more appropriate protective equipment, such as face shields, fully paid sick leave for workers and widespread screening tests on dairy farms.
All of this needs to come with a multilingual communications strategy to help farm workers understand how they can protect themselves.
Right now, many dairy workers are not even aware there is an H5N1 outbreak among cattle.
Here in Sunnyside, Washington, I havent heard any workers talking about it, said Martnez.
In Vermont, another dairy farm worker, who asked to remain anonymous, said they had heard nothing about H5N1. [Management] havent even mentioned it, they said. Now Im finding out about it, I think Im worried. But I have no idea what it means.
During Covid, government agencies supported the infrastructure to do outreach to [such groups], said Liebman. It just takes money. And it takes the support of community groups, [including] faith-based organizations, which have linkages to the workers.
Putting such measures and outreach in place could be the difference between controlling a potentially dangerous virus like H5N1 and giving it the chance to become a pandemic.
Farm workers are canaries in the coalmine [for pandemics], said Alcauter. But I think its important not to frame them as victims or vectors in this. Because they could be trained to be frontline public health defenders.
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A new bird flu symptom has emerged in an infected human, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported on Thursday.
According to a press release, there is a third human case associated with a multistate outbreak of avian influenza, also known as bird flu, in U.S. dairy cows.
A Michigan dairy farmer who recently contracted the illness was exposed to infected cows, meaning, like the two other cases (one in Texas and one in Michigan), this case is "another instance of probable cow-to-person spread," the CDC said. None of the three cases are associated with each other and the illness has yet to be shown to spread from human to human, according to the agency.
The Michigan farmer is the first to report "more typical symptoms of acute respiratory illness associated with influenza virus infection," including bird flu, the CDC said. The agency explained: "The patient reported upper respiratory tract symptoms including cough without fever, and eye discomfort with watery discharge."
Newsweek reached out to the CDC via email for comment.
The human health risk for the general public not exposed to infected animals remains low. The CDC will conduct additional genetic analysis on specimens collected from the third patient to "look for any changes to the virus that could change the agency's risk assessment."
Bird flu symptoms can range from mild to severe, but infected people can also be asymptomatic.
Mild symptoms may include eye redness or flu-like upper respiratory symptoms.
Here are severe symptoms that infected people may experience:
The CDC also lists less-common symptoms: diarrhea, nausea, vomiting or seizures.
The CDC advises people to wear protective equipment when interacting with infected or potentially infected animals. Protective gear includes fluid-resistant coveralls and, if necessary, a waterproof apron; a National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)-approved particulate respirator; safety goggles or face shield, if necessary; rubber boots or rubber boot covers; head or hair cover; and gloves.
People should also monitor their health for 10 days after their most recent exposure to the virus, according to the CDC.
The agency recommends avoiding close, long or unprotected exposures to sick or dead animals as well as unprotected exposures to animal poop, bedding, unpasteurized milk or materials that have been touched by, or were close to, animals with suspected or confirmed bird flu.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
