Michigan Farmworker Diagnosed with Bird Flu

[appalachiablue]

Source: NBC News

It's the second confirmed human case linked to the outbreak of the virus in dairy cows. At least 51 herds in nine states have reported infections.

A second person in the U.S. has been infected with bird flu linked to dairy cows, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services reported Wednesday. The individual, a farmworker who had regular exposure to infected livestock, had mild symptoms and has recovered, the department said.

“The current health risk to the general public remains low," Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian, Michigan's chief medical executive, said in a press release. "We have not seen signs of sustained human-to-human transmission at this point. This is exactly how public health is meant to work, in early detection and monitoring of new and emerging illnesses.”

The Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development confirmed additional cases in cows this week, bringing the total in that state to 19 herds on Wednesday. Nationally, at least 51 herds in nine states have been affected, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In addition to herds in Michigan, dairy cattle in Colorado, Kansas, Idaho, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, South Dakota and Texas have also tested positive for bird flu...


Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/second-human-case-bird-flu-linked-dairy-cows-found-michigan-rcna153536

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The bird flu, also known as H5N1, is a type of influenza A virus. This is the third case overall in the US.

[Warpy]

1. It is definitely on the move

but it's going to take a lot more time to mutate enough to be easily transmissible between humans. For one thing, it's going to have to move higher in the rspiratory system, meaning it will be considerably less lethal when it does.

It looks like it will be a bad one, though. Just watch what's happening with it for now.

[appalachiablue]

3. Good to know about obstacles, that's more time for any vaccine dvmt, etc. Poor

birds, cows and other critters. Thanks for the info.

[Warpy]

8. It started to emerge around the time Covid was first making the rounds

and poultry workers in China had something like an 80% fatality rate if they caught it, which was a lot rarer than Covid.

Some influenzas jump from birds to mammals but take their time getting to humans. There was a nasty equine influenza in 1872-3 that nearly brought the US economy to a halt. It didn't spread to humans, but part of its genome has been recovered from the 1918 influenza, taking 46 years to make it to humans and then only in a small part.

The H and N refer to proteins on the surface of the membrane around the viral genome. The 1918 flu was H1N1. We've recently had one of those in circulation but it wasn't any worse than the usual strains. Likely one of the main contributing factors to the high death toll in the 1918 flu was the state of medicine. High dose O2 would likely have saved a lot of people but while they could produce oxygen chemically, they had to way to store or transport it.

[Turbineguy]

2. The GOP wants trump to manage this outbreak.

That way lots of people will die.

[appalachiablue]

4. Right, sicken and kill many animals, and us..We need an Award, Meme

or a Ranking for the GOP president with the worst public health policies and environmental pollution record, as sad as that is.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

6. I wonder if they ever figured out...

traitortrump and the Fascist Oligarch eXtremists propaganda network killed more Republicans with their politicizing of COVID than they did Democrats.

[canetoad]

5. I opened our local paper to find this a minute ago

Victorian child confirmed to have rare and dangerous H5N1 bird flu

The first human case of bird flu in Australia has been detected in a critically ill Victorian child, as an unrelated outbreak of the disease at an egg farm forced authorities to euthanise hundreds of thousands of chickens.

The sick child returned to Australia from India in March and experienced a “severe infection”, according to the Victorian Health Department, but has since made a full recovery after weeks in hospital.

Human cases of bird flu are extremely rare but the disease can be severe. The mortality rate in humans is more than 50 per cent. Testing at the weekend confirmed the child had been sick with H5N1, the highly pathogenic version of the virus.

“Fortunately, this virus, the avian influenza H5N1, is actually much, much less transmissible than seasonal flu,” Victorian Chief Health Officer Dr Clare Looker said on ABC radio. “There are very few cases internationally of this being passed from human to human.”

https://archive.md/DxgaT
https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/victorian-child-confirmed-to-have-rare-and-dangerous-h5n1-bird-flu-20240522-p5jft4.html

This is a worry.

[appalachiablue]

7. Sad and troubling, thanks for the article. With the whacked anti mask

and anti science public and politicians here and elsewhere the concerns are heightened.

[littlemissmartypants]

9. In the eye, again. Why are these folks not wearing eye protection?

Human beings can really be a disappointment. They often shouldn't be trusted around animals at all.

Thanks for sharing this, appalachiablue.

❤️

[Cheezoholic]

10. Personally I'd rather a virus take humans out than say nuclear war, that would give dogs time to grow opposable thumbs

If any sentient animal on this planet knows what not to do by now, its dogs. Yeah, I really do hope the world goes to the dogs