A milk worker in Nevada may have tested positively for a tribe of H5N1 bird flu, of which it is known that she killed one person and suffered another seriously.
CNN reported on Saturday evening that a worker was tested positively for the D1.1 version of the H5N1 bird flu virus. Confirmation tests by the centers for controlling and prevention of diseases are underway.
The report was not confirmed by the CDC or the Department of Health and Human Services by Nevada.
According to CNN, the symptoms of the person of conjunctivitis or pink eye – a common symptom that can be observed in people who have been exposed to the virus in North America since March 2024 when the virus has been reported for the first time in Texas -milk herds.
Since then67 people were infected with H5N1 bird flu. In 63 of these cases, the workers recorded the virus while working with infected animals. 40 left it with dairy cattle, 23 with infected poultry. In three cases, the source of exposure was not determined. And in one case, one person got it from dealing with sick and or dead birds in a backyard. This person died.
Last week, federal health officers announced that at least four dairy bird herds in Nevada had been infected in Nevada. This tribe is called D1.1 and differs easily from the one that was widespread in the nation's milk flocks, which means B3.13.
The news comes to the Faels from A US Department of Agriculture Report This examined the D1.1 strain in the cows in Nevada milk and found changes in the genetic code to copy the virus itself more easily in mammals, including humans.
The researchers could not find out how the wild bird version of the virus was buried in Nevada herds, although there were reports of massive bird emanations in the region during this period.
Jennifer Nuzzo, director of the Pandemic Center of the Brown University School of Public Health, said when confirmed that it was a relief that this recent milk worker has only shown slight symptoms, but she underlined how little we actually know who gets sick and sick And why when it comes to H5N1 bird flu?
She said that there are several hypotheses that float around why most milk workers have so far only shown slight symptoms after infections compared to the serious cases in two people who were exposed to D1.1. (Several poultry workers in Washington were also exposed to D1.1, while they deployed an infected poultry operation. While many breath symptoms had, they were regarded as mild cases by civil servants of public health.)
One of these theories is that the H5N1 B3.13 version is less dangerous than D1.1, she said.
“I wasn't convinced,” she said.
Now someone sees that has milder infections with D 1.1. “I would argue that we have no idea at this point … and we should not assume that someone, just because someone was exposed to one or another variant, will have a slight or serious illness. … we should not assume that H5N1 is determined in any way as a mild virus. And for this reason, we have to treat and work every infection with caution to prevent future infections. “
When asked whether she was surprised that about a year after the outbreak of the H5N1 bird flu in dairy cattle, she was still ill and infected, she said “No”.
Little was done to increase the protection of milk workers from this virus, and health officers hadn't done much to try to transfer this virus and where. “
John Korslund, a former USDA scientist, agreed and said in an e -mail that his greatest concern about the news that a worker may be infected “that the story had to be leaked through -i.e. reporting on CNN was not authorized . Why??”
He said that the recent comments by the state of Nevada agricultural commissioner to “workers” with conjunctivitis had proposed several cases, but there was no information on how many employees were tested, he said. There were also no official reports of clinical illnesses in the infected herds of dairy cattle, although media reports described the symptoms as respiratory tract.
In its report, the USDA emphasized the National Milk Testing Strategy – a new program in 40 states, including Nevada, for which all raw milk intended for pasteurization – emphasized as the main bound to the discovery of the virus in Nevada milk cattle herds.
According to the agency Report on the herds in NevadaSamples that were collected on January 6th and 7th tested positively and triggered an investigation by officials from the Nevada state to pursue the source. On January 17, regulatory officers collected samples from alleged dairies and entered the Washington Animal Diagnostic's diagnostic laboratory, a USDA-enclosed laboratory. On January 31, the total genome sequence of the virus from affected companies showed the trunk D1.1.
“Clinical signs were not observed in the cattle before the discovery, but reported since then,” wrote officials from the agency in the report.
“This virus makes a chance to infect many more people with a lot of improved genomic adjustments! Risks have grown strongly, ”said Korslund in an e -mail. “Our best ways are to insulate, sequence and analyze as quickly as possible as we develop a new” warp speed “vaccination and animal vaccination and therapeutic agents. OMB (the US office for management and budget) has to take your foot out of the throats of our rescuers. “