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Everything you need to know as Bird Flu virus cases rise in the US
Five poultry workers in Colorado have fallen ill with bird flu, bringing the yearly total to 9, as experts scramble to produce plans for tackling the outbreaks.
Bird flu, or avian flu, is an infectious viral illness that largely spreads between both domestic and wild birds. Though there are many varieties of the sickness, with most not affecting humans, a number of strains have caused human deaths in the past.
There have been 9 cases in 2024 so far
At the time of writing, there have been 5 new confirmed cases of bird flu, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed this week.
All five of the cases were located at an egg-laying facility in Northern Colorado where workers were attempting to reduce a chicken population who had contracted H5N1 avian influenza.
The Department of Public Health and Environment initially said that the workers had caught the virus during the slaughter of 1.8 million chickens. Dr. Nirav Shah, principal deputy director of the CDC, later said that industrial fans and heat contributed to the contraction.
None of the employees were hospitalized for the illness, but some experienced symptoms like conjunctivitis and respiratory infection symptoms.
“We’ve not seen severe illness, which is reassuring,” Shah said. “The other thing we look at, in addition to severity is whether the virus is able to transmit from animals to humans and/or from humans to humans with greater ease or with greater efficiency. We haven’t seen changes, particularly on the human-to-human side.”
News of the chicken farm cases brings the 2024 total to 9 after dairy workers contracted the virus earlier this year.
Should we be worried about bird flu?
It’s not immediately clear how the chicken farm caught H5N1 avian influenza, but experts have theorized that it jumped from the cattle that were infected with the virus. The 160 workers involved in the culling are still undergoing testing.
Thankfully, experts are not too concerned about the current progression of avian flu for the general public. Nonetheless, officials have begun to stockpile personal protective equipment (PPE) while also producing millions of vaccines in case of a pandemic.
“This is what preparedness looks like,” Shah said. “It’s making sure they have adequate stocks and supplies in the event that they may need them rather than trying to scurry and scramble at the last minute to acquire them.”
One area experts are keen to keep an eye on is the strain’s chance of mutation, which could pose an increased risk to humans.
“In cows, at least, this strain is not fatal it seems like they’re all recovering after a period of days to maybe a couple of weeks,” science professor Matt Koci told the ABC. “So far, there have been no indications that the virus is mutating or is changing in any way that would make this a greater risk to humans.”
If anything, we should be most worried about the price of food increasing.
