Third Farmworker Contracts Bird Flu, But First to Get Respiratory Illness
“…direct exposure to infected livestock poses a risk to humans, and that PPE is an important tool in preventing spread among individuals who work on dairy and poultry farms.”
Leslie is gone so I’ll cover the science, diseases, and medicine topics.
A third farmworker contracted the bird flu, and the second contracted it in Michigan.
The first person in Michigan and the farmworker in Texas essentially had pink eye.
This Michigan farmworker developed a respiratory illness. From MLive.com:
The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services announced Thursday, May 30 that a person who “worked closely” with infected cows tested positive for influenza (H5) – the virus associated with a strain of avian flu that’s been spreading for the past two years.
The farmworker, who works at a different farm than a case announced last week, developed a cough, eye discomfort and watery discharge, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. The person was given antivirals and is recovering in isolation.
This is the first H5 case in the United States, the CDC said, where a human has developed respiratory illness symptoms. In other cases, people experienced eye infections or fatigue.
No other workers from the same farm have reported symptoms, but they are being monitored.
Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian, Michigan’s chief medical executive, said the state has “not seen signs of sustained human-to-human transmission.”
Therefore, the public health risk is low.
The sickened farmworker had direct contact with an infected cow, and the other Michigan farmworker became sick when milk from an infected cow splashed into their eye.
“Neither individual was wearing full personal protective equipment (PPE),” explained Bagdasarian. “This tells us that direct exposure to infected livestock poses a risk to humans, and that PPE is an important tool in preventing spread among individuals who work on dairy and poultry farms.”
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Comments
Eh. I died from net neutrality and tax cuts.
Is it a scary time to be the guy who inseminates the cows yet? lol
Not so much the inseminator, but the guy who exseminates. I mean, HE’s the one getting it in his eye….
You won’t hear him complaining. Variety explains the performers get significant extra money for that.
Oh they are going to kill all the animals
Already killed 6.5 chickens
I wouldn’t let them near my farm
“This is the first H5 case in the United States, the CDC said, where a human has developed respiratory illness symptoms”
Three times to get it right?
Wuhan’s falling down on the job.
Dang, I just had my allergies (set off by wheat harvest every single year) mutate to walking pneumonia…… time to plow the wheat under.
a cough, eye discomfort and watery discharge
So…. still basically “pink eye.” Which, like Trump’s guilty verdicts, can have a lot possible causes and you don’t have to specify which one.
From the Mayo Clinic:
“Both viral and bacterial conjunctivitis can occur along with colds or symptoms of a respiratory infection, such as a sore throat.”
Still, meh. I get a cough when the weather changes and my sinuses get overactive.
As I have said before, the ability of an flu virus to infect humans depends on what sialic acid structure it binds to. The variants in human lungs are different from birds, but cow udders apparently have both types, which is why cow milk is heavily infected. This is why this virus is so worrisome. It currently doesn’t cause a human pandemic because it is not optimized to infect human lungs. It can however, infect cat brains and is quite lethal to cats. It would only take a small modification to be able to spread between humans. This article shows technical details of the receptor mechanism.
https://virology.ws/2009/05/05/influenza-virus-attachment-to-cells-role-of-different-sialic-acids/
Thanks for the link to the Virology paper. I find it interesting, but I suspect the vast majority of people are more interested in mode of treatment rather than mode of infection, because we are going to get one or another strain prevalent during the coming “flu” season.
So, does this difference in infectivity affect the way this disease is treated? Will zinc plus a zinc ionophore inhibit reproduction? Will supplementing D, C, zinc and selenium reliably reinforce the immune system response of most Americans? Since the disease has a respiratory component, should physicians and hospitals be alert to treating secondary pneumonia infections?
Pinkeye is no fun with cows. You have to get the stupid thing held in place, spray the half-blind idiot with stuff from a hissing sprayer they think is a snake, and repeat it every day for a week or so. Then wash the heck out of your hands with soap because the (censored) stuff is contagious. And you *have* to do it so other cows won’t catch it. And it’s worse for human kids. You can’t lock them into a squeeze chute or all the neighbors think you’re doing something horrid, and you can’t tempt them out with a sugar cube.
WE GONNA DIE!