United States: Two more cases of bird flu have been reported in Colorado poultry workers, bringing the total to six, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Despite the increase, reassuring research indicates the virus isn’t causing silent infections, U.S. health officials report.
Human Cases Linked to Poultry and Dairy Exposure
As reported by HealthDay, “Since April 2024, there are 10 human cases of the avian flu infections have been reported and four of the cases among them were associated with exposure to the sick dairy cows and six among them were associated with the exposure to H5N1 infected poultry,” stated by CDC.
This includes two additional cases in Colorado that were confirmed by the CDC this week and not previously reported, and two new cases were in the poultry workers with the exposure to infected poultry during depopulation and the disposal activities. Like the previous cases illness was mild.
Testing and Monitoring Efforts
Along with the new cases the agency has offered some good news that last month Michigan Department of Health and Human Services which shows a study of almost 35 workers who were around the cows and got ill by the bird flu.
“This is an important finding because it suggests that asymptomatic infections in people are not occurring and provides support to the current testing approach — i.e., collecting samples from symptomatic people who have been exposed to sick animals,” the agency noted in its advisory.
Spread Among Mammals and Livestock
For last few years this bird flu has been spreading among the mammals including alpacas and earlier this year virus is known as H5N1 and was specifically detected in U.S. dairy cows and it is now circulating in livestock in the multiple states.
The cases reported earlier this year were among dairy farm workers in Michigan, Texas and Colorado.
As of last Friday, the H5N1 virus has been surely confirmed in 157 dairy cow herds and in 13 states as well. Since April 2024, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has reported bird flu cases in 34 commercial flocks and 16 backyard flocks, for a total of 18.3 million birds affected.