CNN
—
A US farmworker who caught chook flu after working with dairy cattle in Texas seems to be the primary identified case of mammal-to-human transmission of the virus, a brand new research exhibits.
The dairy employee sought care in late March after growing painful pink, swollen, weeping eyes with burst blood vessels. He had no fever, nonetheless, and his lungs have been clear, in accordance with a letter in regards to the case that was revealed within the New England Journal of Medicine on Friday.
He reported no contact with sick or useless birds or different animals, however he did have repeated direct shut contact with dairy cows in the identical a part of the state with different contaminated herds.
Regardless that the person didn’t grow to be severely sick, his case is vital as a result of it confirms that people might be contaminated with H5N1 after contact with cows. On the identical time, it additionally leaves important questions unanswered a few virus that the research authors stated has “pandemic potential,” and it illustrates how laborious it is going to be to trace the an infection on this weak inhabitants of staff, the place testing constructive for an infectious illness would possibly imply dropping days of labor and pay.
“For farmworkers particularly, actually these are people which might be which might be residing in a state of financial desperation, and what they’re not going to do is, they’re not going to check for one thing in the event that they don’t have paid sick go away, as a result of they can not afford to be despatched house and instructed to remain house and never work,” stated Elizabeth Strater, director of strategic campaigns for United Farm Employees.
Strater says UFW, like different teams, has heard rumors that there are dairy staff who’re sick however don’t wish to be examined, however she stated it’s nothing that they’re capable of verify.
Well being officers in Texas stated they did take a look at different sick dairy staff, together with some with pink eyes, however they turned out to produce other diseases, not chook flu.
“The individuals examined volunteered to be examined,” stated Lara Anton, senior press officer with the Texas Division of State Well being Companies.
“It’s possible there have been different individuals with signs who didn’t wish to be examined so we can’t say with absolute certainty that nobody else contracted H5N1. We will say for certain among the individuals on dairy farms examined constructive for different respiratory viruses which might be generally circulating within the human inhabitants,” Anton stated.
Within the case of the person who did take a look at constructive for chook flu, he took antiviral medicines and recovered with none lasting issues, and his shut relations obtained the medication as a precaution, the letter says.
Swabs of the affected person’s eyes and lungs revealed one thing fascinating, too: His eyes have been teeming with the H5N1 virus, however there was hardly any virus in his lungs. That might imply the employee was contaminated by way of his eyes – both by rubbing them with contaminated fingers or by way of splashes of contaminated milk – relatively than by way of his lungs, and the virus by no means migrated there, or that the virus couldn’t get a foothold in his lungs as a result of it was tailored primarily to contaminate birds, not cells within the human airway.
The letter on the case was written by researchers on the US Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention together with docs on the Texas Division of State Well being Companies and researchers on the Texas Tech Bioterrorism Response Laboratory.
Well being officers stated they couldn’t do additional investigation of how the person was contaminated as a result of “epidemiological investigations weren’t capable of be carried out on the farm” the place he labored. They have been additionally unable to check different staff on the identical farm.
That type of testing is important to reply questions on how the employee turned contaminated, whether or not others have been being contaminated and in that case, for the way lengthy they have been contaminated and how much signs that they had, if that they had any in any respect.
The CDC is on the lookout for farms that can permit it to conduct such an in depth research.
“Understanding the present avian flu outbreak amongst dairy cattle is an important precedence to assist shield human well being,” the company stated in an announcement to CNN. “Discussions are underneath manner with farms in a number of jurisdictions to take part in CDC-led epidemiological research. Within the meantime, states proceed to check symptomatic farm staff and monitor those that have been uncovered to contaminated animals. CDC additionally continues to intently monitor a sturdy, nationwide flu surveillance system. Up to now, it has not detected any uncommon flu exercise.”
At a information briefing Friday, White Home spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre stated the administration was monitoring the scenario “very intently and taking this very severely.”