More northeastern Colorado poultry workers infected with bird flu – Nebraska Examiner

Colorado health officials identified two more cases of the highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza bird flu in humans over the weekend, bringing the case count in the state to seven people who worked with inflected birds.

A worker at a northeast Colorado commercial egg layer in Weld County, where five other cases occurred, was confirmed sick on Friday. On Saturday, officials identified another presumptive positive case in a worker at a separate poultry farm in Weld County.

Another Colorado resident contracted the virus from infected cattle earlier this month.

The cluster of cases, comprising eight people in Colorado, accounts for most of the bird flu cases reported in humans in the country.

The recently infected workers were dealing directly with infected poultry and experienced mild symptoms such as pink eye and respiratory infection symptoms. Officials with the U.S. Department of Agriculture said last week that heat could have prevented proper use of personal protective equipment, exposing the workers to the virus.

Federal health officials have commissioned Moderna to develop a vaccine to protect people from an avian influenza that has been circulating in dairy cattle in recent months, according to reporting by the Iowa Capital Dispatch.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services officials said July 3 the agency would devote about $176 million to the effort, with the hope that final clinical trials might commence next year.

This article first appeared in theColorado Newsline,a sistersite of the Nebraska Examiner in the States Newsroom network.

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More northeastern Colorado poultry workers infected with bird flu - Nebraska Examiner