Category: Flu Virus

Concerns have been raised in recent months after an outbreak of avian flu caused by the virus H5N1 was detected in cattle in the US. To date, 139 affected herds have been identified, and four dairy workers have contracted the virus. The UK Health Security Agency, which previously believed there to be minimal risk of the virus evolving into a form which could spread among humans, now believes there is up to a one-in-three chance of it doing so. A factory in Liverpool has been busy manufacturing stockpiles of a pre-pandemic vaccine which will be given to farm workers and others in occupations that bring them into close contact with bird flu.

We have been here before with bird flu. An outbreak among birds in East Asia in 2005 led to the World Health Organisation predicting that the disease could go on to kill between two million and 7.4 million people. Not to be outdone, Professor Neil Ferguson of Imperial College London declared that around 40 million people died in the 1918 Spanish flu outbreak, and that given subsequent population growth, you could scale [the potential death toll] up to around 200 million people probably. In the end, only 282 people died worldwide from the disease. Not for the first time, Prof. Ferguson was talking nonsense.

If H5N1 does turn out to cause a pandemic in humans, can we expect a more measured response?

The last Conservative government was in no rush to learn the lessons of Covid-19, perhaps as there were plenty of errors made by Tory ministers who were standing for re-election. The official Covid Inquiry is moving with glacial speed: the first part of its report is published only now, three years after it was first announced. And even that is looking only at preparedness. In the end, the thing we were truly unprepared for was the political panic and the devastating effect it had on this country when scientific advisers who should have known better were also swept away in the hysteria.

Sir Patrick Vallance was chief scientific adviser during the pandemic. He has now been named Keir Starmers science minister which is odd given that, under his tenure, science was not properly defended. Instead, advisers turned to faulty mathematical models provided by the likes of Professor Ferguson; and in October 2020 Vallance himself deployed a misleading graph predicting 4,000 deaths a day in the absence of a second lockdown.

Pandemics only end when herd immunity is achieved: a basic point made in April 2020 by Graham Medley, a Sage member. In an interview, he warned about the likely effects of a national lockdown. There will also be actual harms in terms of mental health, in terms of domestic violence and child abuse, and in terms of food poverty, he said. This annoyed No.10, which asked if there was a discreet way of silencing such scientists.

As the chief scientific adviser, Vallance should have been in favour of robust debate, defending the right of Sage members like Medley to speak out even (perhaps especially) if his line differed from official policy. But Vallance was a participant in the government WhatsApp chats and in those messages he agreed to deal with Prof. Medley, asking him to dial back his comments. Vallance reported back to the WhatsApp group that his intervention had been a success and Medley was mortified. Suppressing debate is not in the interests of science. All angles need to be considered and dissent should be welcomed. This, surely, is a crucial lesson we should learn from the Covid era.

Another lesson is that exaggerating a threat can be counterproductive and the resulting panic incredibly dangerous. In his 2010 autobiography, Tony Blair who was prime minister at the time of the 2005 scare said: There is a whole PhD thesis to be written about the pandemics that never arise. He went on: The old first world war flu statistics were rolled out, everyone went into general panic and any particular cases drew astonishing headlines of impending doom. In the end, he said, he tried to do the minimum in preparing for the pandemic that didnt arrive. Four years later he was vindicated when swine flu led to a similar panic. Retroviral drugs were stockpiled and the EU advised against non-essential travel to the US. The virus turned out to be no more virulent than seasonal flu.

When Covid struck a decade later, it turned out that we were embarrassingly ill-prepared, in very basic ways such as not having sufficient personal protective equipment stockpiles for NHS staff. But we were also unprepared for the danger of overreacting.

So we face a vital question: if H5N1 does turn out to be on the verge of causing a pandemic in humans, can we expect the right response? The findings of the official inquiry into Covid will be no help. The disaster that was the lockdowns has hardly been examined; the main intention seems to be to prove that lockdowns were inevitable, so that the only issue at stake is why the government didnt impose them sooner.

The increasing concern over the spread of bird flu has not prompted calls for Covid-like restrictions yet, but it could all too easily lead in that direction. We need to inoculate ourselves against hysteria as much as we do against any virus.

Read this article:

How would we handle an avian flu pandemic? - The Spectator

The U.S. government and local health departments around the country are working to mitigate the spread of avian influenza, or bird flu.

In early 2022, the H5N1 virus was found in commercial poultry, backyard chickens and aquatic birds. Now, its also spread to cattle nationwide and to 9 people who worked closely with infected animals.

Reset sits down with a public health official to get the latest updates on the outbreak and whats being done to avoid another pandemic.

GUEST: Dr. Janna Kerins, medical director of environmental health, Chicago Department of Public Health

Read the rest here:

What you need to know about bird flu - WBEZ Chicago

Michigan farms help USDA in research of bird flu outbreak spreading to cattle and humans

by Jessica Harthorn

In this undated photo, lab technicians at the Michigan State University Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory are looking at samples of the{ }Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza.{ } (Image: MSU College of Veterinary Medicine)

LANSING, Mich.

Right now, Michigan is a hot spot for the Highly Pathogenic Avian Flu.

Otherwise known as the bird flu, its currently infecting 26 herds. The latest case was reported July 9, 2024 in Gratiot County.

The virus, which is common in wild birds, is now being discovered in dairy cattle, poultry, even people, surprising state scientists.

On May 1st, the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development issued a strict new bio-security order for dairy farms to follow trying to mitigate the spread.

News Channel 3 talked with a dairy farmer who told us this virus is the most concerning challenge he's faced in 40 years.

Its a new virus scientists across the country are scrambling to learn more about.

"What are the transmission pathways? How is it moving from farm to farm?" asked MDARD Director Tim Boring.

March 29th, the first positive detection of the avian flu in cattle was discovered on a dairy farm in Montcalm County. The cattle had just arrived from Texas.

"As a virologist, and I think that all of my virologist friends who are going to be honest, would tell you that none of us expected to see this happen," said Dr. Kimberly Dodd, the director of Michigan State University Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory.

The sample was sent to the Michigan State University Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, where Director Kimberly Dodd and her team got right to work.

"A core part of our mission is to continually develop new tests to be able to detect new emerging diseases," Director Dodd said.

The lab is part of a network of 63 across the country, working with the USDA to respond to animal health disease events, and placing Michigan on the forefront of discovering what this virus is capable of.

"Is it possible it could become the next COVID, as a scientist, what are your thoughts?" asked News Channel 3 Anchor Jessica Harthorn.

"The longer that we have viruses circulating in the population, the more opportunity there is for mutation, which could potentially raise the risk for spread to other species, including humans. But that's always the case, even before we saw the situation of influenza viruses in dairy cattle," Director Dodd said.

As of July 14, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported nine human cases, two in Michigan who were in close contact with cattle.

"Well, my first reaction was I wanted to make sure my family that work with the cattle, and the farm employees were safe," Chapin said.

In May, Director Tim Boring issued mandatory bio-security rules for farms to follow.

"Of making sure that we are keeping viruses on farms, keeping it off of new farms, and really focuses a lot on people, equipment, vehicles, of addressing those transmission pathways," Director Boring said.

MDARD is also prioritizing testing. "Local health departments are out talking to farm workers in the event there is a positive herd detected, we are doing a lot of people tracking, a lot of health monitoring," Director Boring said.

Right now, a curbside sample drop-off is set up at the MSU laboratory, Director Dodd told us, hundreds of tests are being done weekly, and Michigan is leading the country using a collaborative approach, called "One Health."

"It's this idea that animal health, human health and environmental health are all interconnected, and in order to tackle a challenge in any of those areas, we need to work together. I'm really proud of the work our state has done to support the USDA and the national response," Director Dodd said.

Director Boring said numbers show the bio-security rules are working to reduce the spread of avian influenza. As for Chapin, he said right now his herd of 700 is healthy.

"Has implementing the new rules been a challenge to your farm?" asked Harthorn.

"I think yes, yes, it's been a challenge to make it all work right. As a producer, you always wish it wasn't in your backyard, so I think that's why you want to double down on your bio-security efforts, to do all that you can do to keep your cattle and your people safe," Chapin said.

The MDARD map published on May 24, 2024 shows the ten counties in Michigan where positive cases were reported in dairy herds, six are in West Michigan.

For dairy farmers who want peace of mind, all testing is covered by the USDA. To find out more, click here.

As scientists continue to learn more about the Highly Pathogenic Avian Flu, MDARD said its bio-security rules will also evolve.

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Michigan farms help USDA in research of bird flu outbreak spreading to cattle and humans - UpNorthLive.com

Where Is Bird Flu Spreading around the World?

Different versions of bird flu have been spreading around the world in recent years.

The virus, officially known as H5N1, is believed to have killed millions of wild and domestic birds worldwide. Some other animals have also been infected.

The virus infected a very small number of people as well. But, H5N1 largely has remained outside the human population. Most of the few human cases involved direct contact between people and infected birds.

Reuters news agency recently explored areas of the world where versions of H5N1 have infected humans.

United States

In the United States, the first known cases of infected dairy cows happened in Texas in March. Currently, dairy cow groups in at least 12 states have been affected.

The U.S. Agriculture Department has said tests so far suggest the virus identified in cows is the same H5N1 found to have infected wild birds and farm birds, also called poultry. Four dairy workers who tested positive for the virus this year showed only minor signs of sickness, such as conjunctivitis, an eye condition.

Officials from the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) said in a report the H5N1 virus spreading in the U.S. is related to a version only identified in North America so far.

Mexico

The World Health Organization (WHO) said on June 5 that a resident of Mexico died with the first known cases of H5N2 bird flu in humans. Mexico's government disputed that cause of death, saying instead the person died of another sickness. Officials said the person had no known contact with animals.

Australia

On June 7, the WHO said a child reported by Australia to have H5N1 had traveled to Kolkata, India. Genetic testing showed the virus was a version of H5N1. That version was known to have been spreading in Southeast Asia and has been identified in previous human infections and in poultry.

Separately, Australia is dealing with three outbreaks of different bird flu versions on poultry farms. These include H7N3, H7N8 and H7N9. Officials said those versions likely arrived on farms through wild birds.

India

In India, the WHO reported a case of human infection with bird flu on June 11. It was caused by the H9N2 version in a four-year-old child in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal. The agency said it was the second human infection of H9N2 bird flu from India following a case in 2019.

The H9N2 virus generally only causes mild sickness. But the WHO said further human cases could happen because this version is one of the most common at poultry farms in different areas.

Vietnam

In March, Vietnam reported a 21-year-old student had died from the H5N1 virus. He had no existing medical conditions. But officials said the student had had contact with wild birds from hunting a couple of weeks before signs of sickness appeared. No contact with dead or sick poultry was reported at the time.

The EFSA said Vietnam also reported an outbreak of H9N2 in a 37-year-old man.

Cambodia

Cambodia has reported five human cases of H5N1 as of June 20.

China

This year, China has identified human cases caused by the H5N6, H9N2 and H10N3 versions. Two deaths were reported with H5N6 cases in the countrys Fujian province. The EFSA said both individuals had contact with household poultry before they showed signs of sickness.

The case of H10N3 bird flu was the third one ever reported worldwide.

Germany

Germany reported a rare outbreak of H7N5 bird flu on a farm in a western part of the country near the border with the Netherlands. The case was identified July 4 by the World Organization for Animal Health. The group said it was the first outbreak anywhere of H7N5 on the groups public records.

Im Bryan Lynn.

Reuters reported this story. Bryan Lynn adapted the report for VOA Learning English.

__________________________________________

domestic adj. relating to the home and family relationships

dairy n. containing or made from milk

positive adj. in a medical test, positive means the person being tested has a disease or condition

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Where Is Bird Flu Spreading around the World? - VOA Learning English

Four poultry workers in Colorado have been diagnosed with bird flu, health officials confirmed Sunday.

The new cases bring the U.S. total to nine since the first human case of the current outbreak was detected in 2022, also in a Colorado poultry worker. Eight of the ninewere reported this year.

Their illnesses were relatively mild reddened and irritated eyes and common respiratory infection symptoms like fever, chills, coughing, sore throat and runny nose. None were hospitalized, officials said. The other U.S. cases have also been mild.

A fifth person with symptoms is undergoing testing, but those results are not back yet, officials said. The workers were culling poultry at a farm in northeast Colorado, according to state health officials. All had direct contact with infected birds.

A bird flu virus has been spreading since 2020 amongmammals including dogs, cats, skunks, bears and evensealsand porpoises in scores of countries. Earlier this year the virus, known as H5N1, was detected in U.S. livestock, and is now circulating in cattle in several states.

Health officials continue to characterize the threat to the general public as low and the virus has not spread between people. But officials are keeping careful watch, because earlier versions of the same virus have been deadly to people.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has sent a nine-person team to Colorado to help in the investigation, at the states request, CDC officials said.

This cases earlier this year were amongdairy farm workersin Michigan, Texas and Colorado.

The virus detected in the four latest cases is least partly identical to the type found in the earlier U.S. cases, but further genetic analysis is underway to make sure its exactly the same, officials said.

As of Friday, the H5N1 virus has been confirmed in 152 dairy herds in 12 states, according to the U.S. Agriculture Department. Hundreds of commercial poultry flocks in more than 30 states have reported H5N1 or other types of bird flu.

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U.S. health officials confirm four new bird flu cases in Colorado poultry workers - NBC News

Bird flu snapshot: This is the latest installment in a series of regular updates on the H5N1 flu outbreak in dairy cows that STAT is publishing on Monday mornings. To read future updates, you can also subscribe to STATs Morning Rounds newsletter.

There are more human cases of H5N1 bird flu infection, and another state has joined the list of those with infected dairy cow herds.

Colorado announced over the weekend that five workers involved in the culling of chickens at an H5N1-infected poultry operation had tested positive for the virus. Four of the cases have been confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; the fifth is currently deemed presumptive positive because the individuals test sample hasnt yet reached the CDC. All five had mild symptoms conjunctivitis and minor respiratory complaints. None required hospitalization.

Additional testing by the CDC is needed to fully characterize the viruses responsible for these infections. But assuming they are the same as the one circulating in cows (which has occasionally spilled over into poultry operations), these cases will bring to nine the number of human infections recorded since this outbreak was first detected in late March. The CDC, at the request of the state, is helping investigate the new human cases in Colorado.

And on Friday came news that another state had discovered a bird flu-infected herd. Oklahoma announced that a sample collected in April that was only recently tested was found to be positive. On Monday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture confirmed two positive herds from the state which may in fact be an error.

Lee Benson, public affairs officer for the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry, said that one dairy operation in the state suspected it had H5N1 in its cows in April and took swabs from two barns on the property. It did not submit them for testing at the time. With the recent unfurling of a USDA compensation program for lost milk production on farms where cows have tested positive for bird flu, the dairy sent both swabs in to be tested, Benson said.

I can tell you that the confirmed positive sample is from one Oklahoma dairy. There are two separate barns that milk the dairy cows, and one sample was collected from each barn, he said.

STAT asked the USDA whether it would alter the number of positive herds from Oklahoma, but has not yet heard back.

Oklahoma called itself the 13th state to find H5N1 in dairy cattle, but in reality its place on the list should be lower. The specimens were collected on April 19, Benson said. At that point only eight other states had reported positive herds.

These new human and animal developments support a blunt risk assessment from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, which gave voice to a rising sense of pessimism about the prospects for containing the H5N1 outbreak in cows in a recent report.

There are no clear signs that the outbreak is or is about to come under control, the 26-page document on the public health risks associated with the ongoing spread states plainly.

The risk that the situation will not soon be brought under control is great, it continues, adding that the probability of and persistent chains of infection is considered high.

As for the consequences of continued spread, the report suggests that while the risk the virus currently poses to people is not great, it could rise if transmission in cattle persists.

There is a low, but increasing probability of viruses developing the ability to infect effectively to and between people, it says. The probability increases with prevalence in animals and with the duration of ongoing animal-to-animal infection.

The risk assessment, dated June 24, is rapidly converted into English by Google Translate for non-Norwegian readers.

Its reflective of what appears to be a growing view, certainly abroad but likely in the U.S. as well, that H5N1 isnt in any hurry to give up on its new hosts and nothing farmers or government agencies are doing seems to be hastening its departure. (There is also a fair degree of skepticism about how hard farmers or the agency leading the response, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, are working towards that end.)

Michigan, which has been the exemplar state in terms of its efforts to find and report affected herds and to gain the trust of wary farmers, had gone almost a month without reporting a new infected herd. On July 5, it announced a herd in Gratiot County, which has been battling both poultry and dairy cattle outbreaks since early May. Texas has gone three weeks without adding to its list of affected herds. That changed on July 8.

As of Monday, the USDA had listed 157 herds in 13 states as having tested positive for H5N1 since the outbreak was first confirmed in late March.

While the count of affected herds has risen steadily in a few of the reporting states think Michigan, Colorado, Idaho the number of states with dairy industries that havent reported a single outbreak puzzles experts monitoring this situation. (Some are downright dubious.) California, Wisconsin, New York, Pennsylvania, and Washington are on the top 10 list of dairy-producing states by revenue. Not one of those five has reported an affected herd.

Are they luckier? More vigilant? Do cows move around less frequently in those states? We dont yet have those answers. But a news report from Missouri last week may help explain a possible difference between reporting and non-reporting states. (Missouri is one of the latter.)

Reporter Mary McCue Bell in the Columbia Missourian quoted a veterinarian with the Missouri Department of Agricultures animal health division saying that to date only 17 dairy cows in a state that boasts 60,000 have been tested for H5N1.

Theres a maxim in epidemiology: Seek and ye shall find. It would seem some states are not seeking.

The lack of a clear picture of how widespread the outbreak is in cattle continues to hamper efforts to assess whether this outbreak can be stopped and how best to do it if that end is within reach.

Asked Thursday if they thought the virus can be driven out of dairy cattle at this point, senior World Health Organization outbreak response leaders hedged their bets. Maria Van Kerkhove, acting director of WHOs division of epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention, said at this point too little is known about the outbreak to make a prediction one way or the other.

I think thats a complicated question, Van Kerkhove said during a WHO press briefing. It doesnt mean that it couldnt happen. But I think that before we can get to an answer of when or if that could be possible, we need to understand the extent [of spread].

And Mike Ryan, who heads the global health agencys health emergencies program, said the ongoing presence of the virus in wild birds will continue to complicate efforts to control H5N1s spread in domestic animals. Its not just a question of driving it out, the goal needs to be keeping it out of an animal population whether thats poultry or dairy cattle. And that takes resources, surveillance, and long-term commitment from the veterinary, wildlife, and public health sectors, he said.

And unfortunately in the world where we look for silver bullets and the treatment that will cure everything, unfortunately the treatment for most of our ills as a human civilization is cooperation, policy, resources and the will to do the job, Ryan said.

Since USDA confirmed the presence of the virus in dairy cattle on March 25 there have been four confirmed and three presumptive human infections, all among farmworkers. All the individuals had mild symptoms; some had only conjunctivitis, while a few have had respiratory symptoms that resemble what is seen with infection with human flu viruses.

The announcement of the fourth case, on the eve of the July 4 holiday, led Adam Kucharski, the co-director of the Centre for Epidemic Preparedness & Response, at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, to ask on the social platform X: Whats the plan?

Kucharski posed a bunch of hypotheticals What if there are clusters of cases? Cases among people who havent had contact with cows? Cases exported to other countries? to convey the point that a mere four years after the start of the worst pandemic since the 1918 Spanish Flu, the world does not appear to be grappling with the fact that H5 virus spreading in cows could lead to H5 virus spreading in people.

What, here in 2024, is the plan for dealing with an outbreak of a potentially pandemic pathogen like H5N1? he asked.

This article has been updated with new information from Oklahoma.

See the rest here:

Bird flu snapshot: As the number of infected dairy herds mount, so too does pessimism about driving H5N1 out of cows - STAT

State agencies reported Sunday evening there are now a total of five human cases of avian influenza in people working directly with infected poultry. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed four and was awaiting test results on a fifth, and is sending a field team to Colorado.

The highly pathogenic avian influenza is also called H5 bird flu.

The infected workers were culling poultry at a commercial egg operation in northeast Colorado. All have had relatively mild symptoms that have not required hospitalization, according to a press release from the state late Sunday.

We (the state health department) and CDC believe that the risk continues to be low here for the general public, said Dr. Rachel Herlihy, the state epidemiologist with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. We know that there's going to be increased exposure in certain industries, including the poultry industry and on dairy farms right now.

She said the state had tested 54 workers from a farm where poultry that had tested positive for avian flu were being culled in to stop the virus from spreading. That testing identified the five positive cases.

We want to know if there is any illness among household contacts, Herlihy said. That would obviously be a concerning scenario. So the folks that have closest contact with an ill worker would be our highest priority, and that has not been identified to date.

People who are in close contact with the workers who tested positive are being monitored as well.

She said the state was making sure the workers have access to PPE, personal protective equipment, like masks and gloves, and that they know the signs and symptoms of avian flu, testing workers and getting treatment to those with symptoms.

Herlihy said there has been no sign of the virus spilling over to people via human to human transmission.

We've been tracking this virus since 2022, and during that time we have not seen evidence of person-to-person transmission, she said.

The state is working with the CDC to monitor for any genetic variations that may appear in the virus and any changes in patterns of transmission.

I think we have people on the ground here we're working with to make sure we have a full picture of this particular incident that's occurring at this poultry operation. And so we have lots of questions we want to answer to try and understand the situation, Herlihy said.

The state had already announced three likely cases on Friday; those are now confirmed, as is an additional presumptive case detected late Friday evening, according to the release. Samples for a fifth worker were presumed positive at the state lab on Saturday and will be sent to CDC for confirmation.

No additional test results are pending, according to the agencies working on the issue, including the state health department, the Department of Agriculture and Colorados Emergency Operations Center.

The workers were culling poultry at a farm in northeast Colorado and exhibited mild symptoms. Those included conjunctivitis, also known as pink eye, and what the agencies called common respiratory infection symptoms.

State epidemiologists suspect the poultry workers cases are a result of working directly with infected poultry. The CDC is part of an ongoing investigation.

The agency said it had deployed a nine-member field team to Colorado to help the state manage the bird flu outbreak in humans and poultry, according to a statement posted Sunday, July 14 on its website.

A team of CDC epidemiologists, veterinarians, clinicians and an industrial hygienist is now working to support Colorado's public health response to the outbreak. This includes ongoing monitoring of workers and testing of additional specimens.

Given current information, CDC believes that the risk to the public from this outbreak remains low, the statement said. It added these cases underscore the risk of exposure to infected animals and that there are no unexpected increases in flu activity in Colorado or other states affected by H5 bird flu outbreaks in cows and poultry.

Public health agencies are keeping an eye on the outbreak through a variety of means. Those include looking at hospitalization data, test data from working, emergency department data, and wastewater data.

We have not had any positive detections in wastewater for H5N1 influenza in that northeastern part of the state where we're doing this monitoring, she said.

May Chu, an epidemiologist and clinical professor from the Colorado School of Public Health, said the arrival of a cluster of cases caught her attention, calling the current situation a worrisome watch.

She said that there was no sign of person to person transmission is promising, but that vigilance is key. Tracking any spread through a variety of means is one way to stay vigilant. But public health mitigations should be amplified if more clusters of cases were to arise here soon.

When it's clustered like that, it tells you that your risk has gone way up because the contact is causing the illness, she said. The concentration of persons at one location getting infected tells me the virus is spreading a lot better.

Chu noted infected poultry are culled in order to limit rapid spread through a flock that could then be transmitted to humans. You can nip it before it gets into the human population widely. That is the best public health protection.

The latest development comes as the state has been dealing with avian flu cases in both poultry and cattle. Earlier this month, the state announced the states first human case of avian influenza infection this year. That case originated from a dairy cow, as the virus had put dozens of dairy cattle herds under quarantine due to the virus.

It's disturbing but not surprising that this virus presumptively is spreading to more humans. People who work closely with infected animals are at risk for becoming ill, said Dr. John Swartzberg, a clinical professor emeritus and expert in infectious diseases, at UC Berkeley, via email Friday.

We have not seen evidence of human-to-human transmission, he stressed. If we do, I would be much more concerned.

The state health department wants employees who are working with ill poultry or dairy cattle to be aware of the signs and symptoms, those include pink eye or conjunctivitis, and then other influenza like illness symptoms, like fever, cough, nausea and headaches. Those who develop those symptoms should seek testing and treatment.

It is safe to eat properly handled and cooked poultry products, according to the agencies, as high temperatures kill bacteria and viruses. That includes avian flu viruses.

Those who work with dairy cows or poultry that may be infected with avian flu are advised to seek medical care if they start to feel sick. They can also call CDPHE at 303-692-2700 during the day, or 303-370-9395 after normal business hours.

The agency can assist in getting a flu test and medicine if needed. More information about avian flu in humans is available here.

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Five agricultural workers in northeastern Colorado have now tested positive for bird flu - Colorado Public Radio

A total of five workers two more than initially reported contracted mild cases of bird flu while culling infected chickens with the viral disease on an egg farm, saidColorado public health officials. They were the first poultry workers known to have contracted bird flu since May 2022; four dairy farmworkers have been diagnosed with the disease, which is also spread by cows, since April, including one in Colorado.

The risk to the general public remains low, said theCenters for Disease Control. These cases again underscore the risk of exposure to infected animals. The agency said there were no other increases in flu activity in Colorado or in other states with bird flu outbreaks.

The workers were culling poultry at a farm in northeast Colorado and exhibited mild symptoms, including conjunctivitis (pink eye) and common respiratory infection symptoms. None were hospitalized, said the state Department of Public Health and Environment. The CDC said besides conjunctivitis and eye tearing, the workers reported more typical flu symptoms of fever, chills, coughing and sore throat/runny nose.

A nine-member, bilingual CDC field team, including epidemiologists, veterinarians, clinicians, and an industrial hygienist, was deployed to Colorado to assist the state in its investigation. There is ongoing monitoring of workers as part of this assessment and additional specimens are being tested, said the CDC.

Earlier this month, the CDC said at least 1,390 people have been monitored since March because of exposure to infected cattle and at least 62 people who developed flu-like symptoms were tested for bird flu. To date, four cases were confirmed; two in Michigan and one each in Texas and Colorado.

The first person in the United States infected by the H5N1 avian flu virus, in May 2022, was a Colorado correctional inmate who, as part of a pre-release program, culled infected poultry at an egg farm in western Colorado.

Bird flu was confirmed in two dairy herds late last week in Oklahoma, making it the 13th state with infected cows. Overall, 157 herds have tested positive for the virus since late March, when bird flu was identified as the mysterious disease circulating among dairy herds in the Texas panhandle. Scientists say the disease jumped to cattle in late 2023 or early 2024 in the panhandle.

Colorado has the largest number of infected herds, 36, followed by Idaho with 30 and Michigan with 26.

The H5N1 avian flu virus has killed more than 99 million birds, mostly egg-laying hens and turkeys being raised for meat, in domestic flocks since it appeared in the United States in February 2022. The 2014-15 outbreak of bird flu killed 50 million birds in domestic flocks and was described at the time as the largest animal disease event in U.S. history.

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Colorado workers are first since 2022 to catch bird flu from poultry - Successful Farming

Topline

Heres the latest news about a global outbreak of H5N1 bird flu that started in 2020, and recently spread among cattle in U.S. states and marine mammals across the world, which has health officials closely monitoring it and experts concerned the virus could mutate and eventually spread to humans, where it has proven rare but deadly.

A sign warns of a outbreak of bird flu.

July 12Colorado authorities announced three workers in a commercial egg operation have presumptive positive cases of bird flu, bringing the states count of known human infections up to as high as fiveand the national number to seventhough authorities said none of the workers have been hospitalized, and showed common respiratory infection symptoms and pink eye. Its the first time multiple cases have been recorded at the same location.

July 3Colorado health officials confirmed the states second human case of bird flu in a dairy farm worker who has since recovered and only had mild symptoms, reporting pink eye.

June 25Finland said it plans to begin vaccinating vulnerable populations like farm workers against bird flu as early as next week using 10,000 vaccine serieseach with two dosesacquired as part of a European Union deal with vaccine maker CSL Seqirus to provide up to 40 million vaccines to 15 countries.

June 11The World Health Organization announced a four-year-old child in India was infected with H9N2 bird flua different flu strain from H5N1but recovered after suffering from seizures, respiratory distress, fever and abdominal cramps; H9N2 has infected around 100 people globally since 1998, and this is the second human case in India.

June 6Dozens of cows infected with bird flu have either died or been slaughtered in Colorado, Ohio, Michigan, South Carolina and Texas, which is unusual sinceunlike poultrycows cost more to slaughter and around 90% usually make a full recovery, Reuters reported.

June 5A new study examining the 2023 bird flu outbreak in South America that killed around 17,400 elephant seal pups and 24,000 sea lions found the disease spread between the animals in several countries, the first known case of transnational virus mammal-to-mammal bird flu transmission.

May 30Another human case of bird flu has been detected in a dairy farm worker in Michiganthough the cases arent connectedand this is the first person in the U.S. to report respiratory symptoms connected to bird flu, though their symptoms are resolving, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

May 23A new study with mice suggests that drinking infected milk can spread the diseaseand that a certain type of pasteurization may not always be effective in killing the virus.

May 22Michigan reported bird flu in a farmworkerthe second U.S. human case tied to transmission from dairy cowsthough the worker had a mild infection and has since recovered.

May 21Australia reported its first human case of bird flu after a child became infected in March after traveling to India, though the child has since recovered after suffering from a severe infection, according to the Victorian Department of Health.

May 16The USDA conducted a study, and discovered that after high levels of the virus was injected into beef, no trace was left after the meat was cooked medium to well done, though the virus was found in meat cooked to lower temperatures.

May 14The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released influenza A waste water data for the weeks ending in April 27 and May 4, and found several states like Alaska, California, Florida, Illinois and Kansas had unusually high levels, though the agency isnt sure if the virus came from humans or animals, and isnt able to differentiate between influenza A subtypes, meaning the H5N1 virus or other subtypes may have been detected.

May 10The Food and Drug Administration announced it will commit an additional $8 million to ensure the commercial milk supply is safe, while the Department of Agriculture said it will pay up to $28,000 per farm to help mitigate the spread of the disease, totaling around $98 million in funds.

May 9Some 70 people in Colorado are being monitored for bird flu due to potential exposure, and will be tested for the virus if they show any symptoms, the Colorado Department of Public Health told Forbesit was not immediately clear how or when the people were potentially exposed.

May 1The Department of Agriculture said it tested 30 grocery store ground beef products for bird flu and they all came back negative, reaffirming the meat supply is safe.

May 1The Food and Drug Administration confirmed dairy products are still safe to consume, announcing it tested grocery store samples of products like infant formula, toddler milk, sour cream and cottage cheese, and no live traces of the bird flu virus were found, although some dead remnants were found in some of the foodthough none in the baby products.

April 30Wenqing Zhang, head of WHO's Global Influenza Programme, said during a news briefing "there is a risk for cows in other countries to be getting infected," with the bird flu virus, since its commonly spread through the movement of migratory birds.

April 29The Department of Agriculture told Forbes it will begin testing ground beef samples from grocery stores in states with cow outbreaks, and test ground beef cooked at different temperatures and infected with the virus to determine if it's safe to eat.

April 24The USDA said cow-to-cow transmission may be occurring due to the cows coming into contact with raw milkand warned against humans and other animals, including pets, consuming unpasteurized milk to prevent potential infection.

April 18Jeremy Farrar, chief scientist for the World Health Organization, said during a press conference the threat of bird flu spreading between humans was a great concern, since its evolved and has increasingly been infecting mammals (on land and sea), which means it could possibly spread to humans.

April 1The CDC reported the second U.S. human case of bird flu in a Texas dairy farmer who became infected after contracting the virus from infected dairy cows, but said the person was already recovering.

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Bird flu doesnt transmit easily from person-to-person, according to the World Health Organization. Bird flu rarely affects humans, and most previous cases came from close contact with infected poultry, according to the CDC. Because human-to-human spread of bird flu poses pandemic potential, each human case is investigated to rule out this type of infection. Though none have been confirmed, there are a few global casesnone in the U.S.where human-to-human transmission of bird flu was thought to be probable, including in China, Thailand, Indonesia and Pakistan.

It is very deadly. Between January 2003 and March 28, 2024 there have been 888 human cases of bird flu infection in humans, according to a report by the World Health Organization. Of those 888 cases, 463 (52%) died. To date, only two people in the U.S. have contracted H5N1 bird flu, and they both were infected after coming into contact with sick animals. The most recent case was a dairy worker in Texas who became ill in March after interacting with sick dairy cows, though he only experienced pink eye. The first incident happened in 2022 when a person in Colorado contracted the disease from infected poultry, and fully recovered.

Raw, unpasteurized milk is unsafe to drink, but pasteurized milk is fine, according to the FDA. Bird flu has been detected in both unpasteurized and pasteurized milk, but the FDA recommends manufacturers against making and selling unpasteurized milk since theres a possibility consuming it may cause bird flu infection. However, the virus remnants in pasteurized milk have been deactivated by the heat during the pasteurization process, so this type of milk is still believed safe to consume.

The CDC warns against eating raw meat or eggs from animals confirmed or suspected of having bird flu because of the possibility of transmission. However, no human has ever been infected with bird flu from eating properly prepared and cooked meat, according to the agency. The possibility of infected meat entering the food supply is extremely low due to rigorous inspection, so properly handled and cooked meat is safe to eat, according to the USDA. To know when meat is properly cooked, whole beef cuts must be cooked to an internal temperature of 145 degrees Fahrenheit, ground meat must be 160 degrees and poultry must be cooked to 165 degrees. Rare and medium rare steaks fall below this temperature. Properly cooked eggs with an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit kills bacteria and viruses including bird flu, according to the CDC. It doesnt matter if they may or may not have [avian] influenza runny eggs and rare pieces of meat are never recommended, Francisco Diez-Gonzalez, director and professor for the Center for Food Safety at the University of Georgia, told Forbes. To play it safe, consumers should only eat fully cooked eggs and make sure the yolks are firm with no runny parts, Daisy May, veterinary surgeon with U.K.-based company Medivet, said.

Symptoms of bird flu include a fever, cough, headache, chills, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, runny nose, congestion, sore throat, nausea or vomiting, diarrhea, pink eye, muscle aches and headache. However, the CDC advises it cant be diagnosed based on symptoms alone, and laboratory testing is needed. This typically includes swabbing the nose or throat (the upper respiratory tract), or the lower respiratory tract for critically ill patients.

This years egg prices have increased as production decreased due to bird flu outbreaks among poultry, according to the USDA. A dozen large, grade A eggs in the U.S. costed around $2.99 in March, up almost a dollar from the fall. However, this price is down from a record $4.82 in January 2023, which was also spiked by bird flu outbreaks. Earlier this month, Cal-Maine Foodsthe countrys largest egg producertemporarily halted egg production after over one million egg-laying hens and chickens were killed after being infected with bird flu.

Once chickens have been infected with bird flu, farmers quickly kill them to help control the spread of the virus, since bird flu is highly contagious and fatal in poultry. The USDA pays farmers for all birds and eggs that have to be killed because of bird flu, as an incentive to responsibly try and curb the spread of the disease. The USDA has spent over $1 billion in bird flu compensation for farmers since 2022, according to the nonprofit Food & Environment Reporting Network.

The FDA has approved a few bird flu vaccines for humans. The U.S. has a stockpile of vaccines for H5N1 bird flu, but it wouldnt be enough to vaccinate all Americans if an outbreak were to happen among humans. If a human outbreak does occur, the government plans to mass produce vaccines, which can take at least six months to make enough for the entire population. CSL Seqirus, the maker of one of the approved vaccines, expects to have 150 million vaccines ready within six months of an announcement of a human bird flu pandemic. Although there are approved vaccines for other variants designed for birds, there are none for the H5N1 variant circulating. However, the USDA began trials on H5N1 animal-specific vaccines in 2023.

As of May 30, more than 92 million poultry (primarily chickens) in 48 states have been euthanized because of bird flu since 2022, and 57 dairy cow herds across nine states have tested positive, according to data from the CDC (unlike chickens, cows appear to recover from the virus). The USDA believes wild migratory birds are the original source of the cow outbreaks that recently has experts concerned it may mutate and spread more easily in humans, though the CDC said its risk to the public remains low. Farrar called the cattle infections in the U.S. a huge concern, urging public health officials to continue closely monitoring the situation because it may evolve into transmitting in different ways. The increased number of mammal bird flu infections since 2022 could indicate that the virus is looking for new hosts, and of course, moving closer to people, Andrea Garcia, vice president of science, medicine and public health for the American Medical Association, said. The first report of a walrus dying from bird flu was detected in April on one of Norways Arctic Islands, and the first U.S. dolphin infected with bird flu died back in 2022, according to a report published April 18. More than 10 human bird flu cases were reported to the World Health Organization in 2023, and all but one survived. Bird flu has devastated bird populations, and 67 countries reported the deaths of 131 million poultry in 2022 alone. Although bird flu typically infects wild birds and poultry, its spread to other animals during the outbreak, and at least 10 countries have reported outbreaks in mammals since 2022. Around 17,400 elephant seal pups died from bird flu in Argentina in 2023, and at least 24,000 sea lions died in South America the same year. Besides cattle, bird flu has been detected in over 200 other mammalslike seals, raccoons and bearsin the U.S. since 2022. Although rare, even domestic pets like dogs and cats are susceptible to the virus, and the FDA warns against giving unpasteurized milk to cats to avoid possible transmission.

On June 5, WHO confirmed the first human death of a strain of bird flu thats never before been seen in humans and is separate from H5N1. A 59-year-old man in Mexico contracted H5N2, and died on April 24 after being hospitalized and developing a fever, diarrhea, nausea, shortness of breath and general discomfort. Cases of H5N2 have been reported in poultry in Mexico, but the man had no history with poultry or animals, WHO said. Its unclear how he became infected. He was bedridden for weeks prior to the infection, and suffered from several other health conditions.

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Earlier this month, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis declared a disaster emergency not for the wildfires common to the Centennial State this time of year, but for a bird flu outbreak at a commercial poultry facility in Weld County, north of Denver. Now, several workers at the egg farm who had been culling poultry in response to the spread of avian influenza have tested positive for the disease.

Five people have been infected, according to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. As of Sunday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had confirmed four of those cases. None of the workers was hospitalized, Colorado officials said, noting their mild symptoms included conjunctivitis, or pink eye, and symptoms consistent with respiratory infection.

Colorado was already ground zero for animal-to-human spread of H5N1, the current strain of bird flu circulating the globe. In 2022, a Colorado farm worker culling poultry tested positive. Until this month, CDC records show, no other poultry-to-human transmissions had been reported. However, since April 1, 2024, four workers on U.S. dairy farms have tested positive for bird flu after interacting with cattle: two in Michigan, one in Texas, and, most recently, one in Colorado.

If the presumptive positive test from Colorados latest poultry outbreak is confirmed, 10 people in the U.S. will have contracted bird flu from cattle or poultry since 2022. The CDC maintains that the general publics risk of contracting H5N1 is low. People who work closely with infected birds and other animals, though, remain at greater risk.

Infected wild birds can spread the virus to poultry and other animals through feces, mucus, and saliva. Avian flu has so far impacted more than 99 million poultry in 48 states and more than 150 dairy cattle herds in 12 states. Modern industrial farming has crafted ideal conditions for disease spread, according to Edwin Michael, PhD, an epidemiologist at the University of South Florida College of Public Health.

Look at the density of animals in those farmsthose are not natural settings, Michael previously told Fortune. So as soon as you get [an infection], these things will spread very quickly among farm animals.

Michael added, We have to shed a light on how farming is done. Thats the trade-off, you want cheap meat and all the rest of it, but then you farm animals in this way and youre opening the door up for other things.

The general public has a low risk of catching bird flu not only because theyre unlikely to come into direct contact with infected birds but also because the CDC hasnt documented any person-to-person transmission.

Testing by the Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Department of Agriculture has shown the nations commercial milk supply is safe, as pasteurization inactivates H5N1. Eggs and poultry are also safe to eat, so long as they are cooked to an internal temperature of 165 degrees, the CDC says.

In April, the World Health Organization seconded the CDCs assessment that the public was at minimal risk, citing a lack of evidence that the virus had acquired mutations that would facilitate its transmission among humans. The agency stressed that sporadic bird flu infections in mammals and humans is par for the course, and that further human cases wouldnt be unexpected. This guidance has not yet been updated following the latest string of Colorado infections.

Preventing widespread infection among farm workers is key to limiting opportunities for viral mutation, says Michael Osterholm, PhD, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota.

Theres no evidence yet at this point that this is an imminent risk to humans, Osterholm told Fortune in May. Weve not seen it cross over to humans in a way that would support that its going to be the next pandemic virus. On the other hand, a reassortant event, or continued mutations, could occur tomorrow.

Humans infected with bird flu display a wide range of symptoms, from pneumonia requiring hospitalization to no symptoms at all. The CDC lists these other possible signs of infection:

Less common symptoms include:

For more on the latest bird flu outbreak:

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What are the symptoms of bird flu and how does it spread? - Fortune