A new study published by the US centers for the control and prevention of diseases shows that the H5N1 bird flippation virus in many parts of the country probably circulates undiscovered in cattle breeding and possibly infected unconscious veterinarians.
In the morbidity and mortality attachment of the health authority, a group of researchers from the CDC, the Ohio Department of Health and the American Assn. Veterinarians from 46 states and Canada reported the results of an analysis that they carried out on 150 cattle or cow.
They found that three of them had antibodies against the H5N1 bird flu virus in their blood. However, none of the infected veterinarians remembered symptoms – including conjunctivitis or pink eye, the most frequently reported symptom in human cases.
The three veterinarians also reported in investigators that they had not worked with cattle or poultry, which is known that they were infected with the virus. In one case, a veterinarian reported only in Georgia (on dairy cows) and in South Carolina (on poultry) – two countries in which no H5N1 infections were reported in milk cows.
Seema Lakdawala, a microbiologist at Emory University in Atlanta, which was not involved in research, was infected. But she said she was even more surprised that none of them knew that they were infected, and they didn't know that they had worked with infected animals.
“These surprising results show that studies on monitoring serum surveillance are important to inform the risk of infections that are not diagnosed,” she said. “Veterinarians are at the forefront of the outbreak, and increased increased practices of biosproof such as airway and eye protection should reduce their risk of exposure.”
Jennifer Nuzzo, director of the Brown University Pandemic Center, described the study as “good and bad news”.
“On the one hand, we see in relation to evidence that there may be more H5N1 outbursts at farms than are reported,” she said. “On the other hand, I am sure that there is no evidence that infections between veterinarians are widespread. This means that there is more work that can and should be done to prevent the virus from spreading to more agricultural and disgusting workers. “
The analysis was carried out in September 2024. At this point, only four cases of people were reported, and the infection was limited to dairy cattle in 14 countries. Since then, 68 people have been infected – 40 works with infected milk cows – and the virus is reported that they have infected herds in 16 states.
John Korslund, a retired US agricultural scientist, said in an e -mail that the search for H5N1 antibodies in the blood of veterinarians was an interesting “but very inaccurate way of measuring the incidence of the state cattle”. But it emphasized that “people are susceptible to subclinical infections and possible repetition risks that we already knew, I think.”
The new edition occurs when a person or an animal is infected with more than one influenza virus so that the two “hardware” can mix and exchange, which may create a new, more virulent stress.
It is even more important, he said, the D1.1 version of the tribe, which lives in Nevada dairy cattle and in the state – changes “The landscape …. (p) eopel can be more susceptible (possibly more susceptible (or not) with a larger one Heavy to the heavy (or not).
“I am confident that we will find it in other states. His behavior and transferability within and between herds of cattle are still a black box, ”he said.