AVIAN INFLUENZA, HUMAN – USA (02): (MICHIGAN) H5N1, ex DAIRY COWS
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International Society for Infectious Diseases
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Date: Wed 22 May 2024 18:30 EDT
Source: AP News [edited]
https://apnews.com/article/bird-flu-cows-michigan-farmworker-cacf56984b328ff2b2f94883b20f5272
A Michigan dairy worker has been diagnosed with bird flu — the second
human case associated with an outbreak in US dairy cows.
The male worker had been in contact with cows at a farm with infected
animals. He experienced mild eye symptoms and has recovered, US and
Michigan health officials said in announcing the case Wednesday [22
May 2024].
A nasal swab from the person tested negative for the virus, but an eye
swab tested Tuesday [21 May 2024] was positive for bird flu,
“indicating an eye infection,” US Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) officials said.
The worker developed a “gritty feeling” in his eye earlier this month
[May 2024] but it was a “very mild case,” said Dr. Natasha
Bagdasarian, Michigan’s chief medical executive. He was not treated
with oseltamivir, a medication advised for treating bird flu, she
said.
The risk to the public remains low, but farmworkers exposed to
infected animals are at higher risk, health officials said. They said
those workers should be offered protective equipment, especially for
their eyes.
Health officials say they do not know if the Michigan farmworker was
wearing protective eyewear, but an investigation is continuing.
In late March [2024], a farmworker in Texas was diagnosed in what
officials called the first known instance globally of a person
catching this version of bird flu from a mammal. That patient reported
only eye inflammation and recovered.
Since 2020, a bird flu virus has been spreading among more animal
species — including dogs, cats, skunks, bears and even seals and
porpoises — in scores of countries.
The detection in US livestock earlier this year [2024] was an
unexpected twist that sparked questions about food safety and whether
it would start spreading among humans.
That hasn’t happened, although there’s been a steady increase of
reported infections in cows. As of Wednesday [22 May 2024], the virus
had been confirmed in 51 dairy herds in 9 states, according to the US
Agriculture Department. Fifteen of the herds were in Michigan.
The CDC’s Dr. Nirav Shah said the case was “not unexpected” and it’s
possible more infections could be diagnosed in people who work around
infected cows.
US officials said they had tested 40 people since the first cow cases
were discovered in late March [2024]. Michigan has tested 35 of them,
Bagdasarian told The Associated Press in an interview.
Shah praised Michigan officials for actively monitoring farmworkers.
He said health officials there have been sending daily text messages
to workers exposed to infected cows asking about possible symptoms,
and that the effort helped officials catch this infection. He said no
other workers had reported symptoms.
That’s encouraging news, said Michael Osterholm, a University of
Minnesota epidemiologist who has studied bird flu for decades. There’s
no sign to date that the virus is causing flu-like illness or that it
is spreading among people.
“If we had 4 or 5 people seriously ill with respiratory illness, we
would be picking that up,” he said.
The virus has been found in high levels in the raw milk of infected
cows, but government officials say pasteurized products sold in
grocery stores are safe because heat treatment has been confirmed to
kill the virus.
The new case marks the third time a person in the United States has
been diagnosed with what’s known as type A H5N1 virus. In 2022, a
prison inmate in a work program picked it up while killing infected
birds at a poultry farm in Montrose County, Colorado. His only symptom
was fatigue, and he recovered. That predated the virus’s appearance in
cows.