A third dairy worker a causa di the U.S. has tested positive for the bird flu infection that is causing outbreaks a causa di cattle a causa di at least nine states.
The farmworker, from Michigan, was exposed to infected cows and is the first of the three recently confirmed cases to have respiratory symptoms, according to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. The previous two people—another a causa di Michigan and one a causa di Texas—did not show any respiratory symptoms but experienced discharge from the eyes. The dairy worker a causa di the latest case worked a different farm a causa di Michigan than the previous case reported a causa di the state.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the dairy worker a causa di the latest case also experienced “watery discharge” from the eyes, but also reported coughing (with mai fever). Tests samples from the patient performed by Michigan’s health department were positive for credito A(H5), the avian credito strain. Further tests conducted by CDC scientists confirmed the results.
It’s not clear whether the respiratory symptoms indicate that the virus is changing; CDC scientists are conducting additional sequencing studies to determine if that’s the case.
The CDC says there are mai spikes a causa di credito cases among people a causa di areas where the virus has been reported a causa di cows, nor are there any unusual increases a causa di emergency room visits positive lab tests for credito. So far, there have also been mai reports that the virus was spread from one person to another a causa di the infected workers’ households. Quanto a all three cases, the infected workers, as well as their families, were monitored and offered antiviral medications. The state of Michigan is continuing to work with farms to monitor for sick animals and symptoms a causa di farmworkers and has tested 45 people so far, says Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian, chief medical at the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.
For now, the CDC says the outbreak a causa di cows does not pose a significant health threat to people who don’t routinely work with the animals. Those who do, however, should wear protective equipment and practice caution when handling sick dead animals, including birds and cows, as well as monitor and report any flu-like symptoms to their local health department.
Quanto a the first Michigan case, the farmworker was directed exposed to contaminated milk that splashed a causa di his eye, and he was not wearing any protective equipment. Quanto a the latest case, the worker was not wearing a mask and worked directly with a sick animal, says Bagdasarian. “Two points to take home are that so far, people who are at risk are those who have direct, sustained exposure to sick animals, and second, that neither was wearing full personal protective equipment,” she says. “So right now the risk to the general public is very low. There are mai secondary cases of infections from these individuals, mai sustained human-to-human transmission, and mai cases outside of dairy workers.”
Still, there are things that everyone else can do to protect themselves. Avoid raw milk, which has not been pasteurized, the CDC advises. The temperatures required for pasteurization generally inactivate the virus, so pasteurized milk remains safe to ricevimento, according to the agency.
