Doctors have confirmed a Texas dairy worker has contracted avian flu, marking only the second time in US history the disease has spread to a human. The first human case was documented April 28, 2022. The farmer is experiencing mild symptoms and doctors expect he will recover, according to Politico. Avian flu symptoms can include fever, body aches, cough, sore throat, red eyes and sometimes, diarrhea and vomiting, according to Public Health Ontario. According to the governing bodies, the virus was tracked from some Texas cows that were moved to a dairy herd in Michigan. Several cases of avian flu (H5N1) have been detected in cows across Texas, Idaho, Michigan and New Mexico, confirmed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). “Initial testing has not found changes to the virus that would make it more transmissible to humans,” the CDC, FDA and USDA said in a press release. “While cases among humans in direct contact with infected animals are possible, this indicates that the current risk to the public remains low.”Texas state authorities say there is no evidence that indicates H5N1 is spreading among humans, while senior White House officials from the Office of Pandemic Preparedness are keeping a close eye on the situation. Dr. Peter Marks told the World Vaccine Congress in Washington on Monday that the US is well-stocked with avian flu vaccines. “There are actually vaccines licensed in the United States for H5N1, and there are stockpiles where we believe that, if we needed to, they would be reasonably good matches,” said Marks, adding depending on how things go, the federal government could activate more vaccine production. “Just because of being on edge from COVID, there are a lot of people looking at what’s going on here and there’s probably a pretty low threshold to pull the trigger here. This is one case we’re a little luckier because it’s a pathogen that we know. We know what this is and what we have in the freezer, so to speak. We have a little bit of a leg up on at least getting started.”
Doctors have confirmed a Texas dairy worker has contracted avian flu, marking only the second time in US history the disease has spread to a human. The first human case was documented April 28, 2022. The farmer is experiencing mild symptoms and doctors expect he will recover, according to Politico. Avian flu symptoms can include fever, body aches, cough, sore throat, red eyes and sometimes, diarrhea and vomiting, according to Public Health Ontario. According to the governing bodies, the virus was tracked from some Texas cows that were moved to a dairy herd in Michigan. Several cases of avian flu (H5N1) have been detected in cows across Texas, Idaho, Michigan and New Mexico, confirmed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). “Initial testing has not found changes to the virus that would make it more transmissible to humans,” the CDC, FDA and USDA said in a press release. “While cases among humans in direct contact with infected animals are possible, this indicates that the current risk to the public remains low.”Texas state authorities say there is no evidence that indicates H5N1 is spreading among humans, while senior White House officials from the Office of Pandemic Preparedness are keeping a close eye on the situation. Dr. Peter Marks told the World Vaccine Congress in Washington on Monday that the US is well-stocked with avian flu vaccines. “There are actually vaccines licensed in the United States for H5N1, and there are stockpiles where we believe that, if we needed to, they would be reasonably good matches,” said Marks, adding depending on how things go, the federal government could activate more vaccine production. “Just because of being on edge from COVID, there are a lot of people looking at what’s going on here and there’s probably a pretty low threshold to pull the trigger here. This is one case we’re a little luckier because it’s a pathogen that we know. We know what this is and what we have in the freezer, so to speak. We have a little bit of a leg up on at least getting started.”
