In less than two months, the United States confirmed its second case of bird flu. This is a dairy worker from Michigan.
United States authorities confirmed a second human case of bird flu Registered in Michigan. At the end of March, the virus was detected for the first time in a worker at a dairy plant in Texasso transmission from cows to humans is beginning to worry.
Michigan and Texas are among nine states that have notified bird flu cases in dairy herds. Meanwhile, scientists believe that the outbreak is spreading based on the findings of the United States Food and Drug Administration of H5N1 virus particles in about 20% of retail milk samples.
Avian flu in the US: the main contagion hypothesis
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According to Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC), The main hypothesis is that the case in Michigan was due to a transmission of cow to human. Additionally, the agency said “similar additional human cases could be identified” given the high levels of the virus in the raw milk of infected cows and the extent of spread in dairy cows.
After this, flu experts pointed out that the second case associated with exposure to dairy cattle is worrying. As in the Texas case, the Michigan patient only presented ocular symptoms and were mildso he is already recovered, reported the State Department of Health and Human Services.
USA: concern about the spread of bird flu in cows
With the second positive case of bird flu in the US, experts now focus on what the transmission was like. According to Scott Hensleyan flu vaccine expert at the University of Pennsylvania, “it is concerning that the virus is spreading widely in cows because this can lead to changes in the virus that could potentially increase susceptibility in humans.”
Scientists have long believed that the virus can cause a global health crisis since it has caused serious or fatal infections in people who had close contact with infected wild or poultry birds.
“It does not seem to be the beginning of a pandemicbut we urgently need to evaluate whether there have been more cases in humans,” said the Dr. Angela Rasmussena virologist at the University of Saskatchewan.
For its part, the CDC noted that have not observed signs of transmission of avian flu between humans and that they have tested about 40 people since March, including the Michigan worker.
Source: Ambito
