A man in Texas caught bird flu from a cow, raising concerns that the highly pathogenic H5N1 is getting stronger.
In a health alert issued Monday, Texas health officials said a dairy worker developed mild conjunctivitis, or ‘pink eye,’ after close contact with dairy herd. Testing later confirmed they had contracted H5N1, in only the second human case in the Americas.
The case adds a “remarkable” new dimension to an unprecedented epidemic already sweeping the world and raises questions about whether the virus has evolved to become better at infecting mammals and humans.
“[The] It is not surprising that an infection occurs in a person exposed to sick animals, but [is] Dr Jennifer Nuzzo, director of the Pandemic Center at Brown University’s School of Public Health in the US, said it was “concerning”.
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In recent years, H5N1 has killed millions of wild birds and poultry worldwide. However, through a series of unexpected developments, it also spread to animals such as cats, bears, foxes, mink and sea lions. This has raised concerns that the virus may have room to evolve to better infect and spread to mammals and potentially humans.
Cows were added to this growing list last week, when the United States reported H5N1 infections in dairy cattle. Cases have since been confirmed or are under investigation in five states (Texas, Kansas, Michigan, New Mexico and Idaho).
Although cows can catch other forms of flu, and a 2008 study found that cattle can catch H5N1, this is the first time the virus has been found in herds.
While the cows do not become seriously ill, is there a race going on whether they have been infected by wild birds found dead on some farms, or whether the virus has begun to spread among the herds? nor was he excluded.
It would be concerning if the virus mutates to spread more easily among cows.
Scientists are also trying to determine how widespread the virus is in cattle, with calls for increased surveillance in the US and beyond to better understand the situation.
“We really need to test cows in Europe as well to understand how common these types of infections are,” said Prof Isabella Eckerle, co-director of the Center for New Viral Diseases in Geneva. “[This] “It doesn’t mean it will cause an epidemic… but cows being infected increases the risk (to wildlife) due to closer human-animal contact.”
On Monday, the Texas Department of State Health Services said the infected person was treated with the flu antiviral drug oseltamivir, sold as Tamiflu, and that the case appeared to be mild. They are currently in isolation, and health officials stressed that “the case does not alter the low risk to the general public.”
“We are not aware of reports that anyone in close contact with this individual has developed any symptoms,” Nirav Shah, deputy director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), told STAT News. “It is reassuring that there are no other examples currently being cooked… [but] To be very clear, we are still there. “Our antennas are open.”
Prof Sam Scarpino, professor of Health Sciences and Computer Science Practice at Northeastern University, added that the list of symptoms was reassuring. Conjunctivitis is a common symptom of bird flu in humans because our eyes actually contain “bird flu-friendly” receptor cells.
“Reports from Texas indicate that the individual had direct contact [with] It occurs in infected cows and has minimal symptoms other than eye inflammation. This is great for the patient, so no pneumonia and suggests “The virus cannot easily pass from person to person,” he said in X.
Prof Scarpino added that he would be more concerned if this case came from a pig, whose flu is known as “evolution laboratories” because it contains both avian and human cell receptor types in its respiratory tract and lungs. viruses will merge into something new.
Bird flu is known to occasionally infect humans, but it is usually transmitted directly through birds. Three cases have been reported in Cambodia so far this year, and a 21-year-old student died in Vietnam last week. In total, approximately 900 people in 23 countries have contracted the virus since it was first detected in 1997, and just over half of these cases have been fatal.
Although outbreaks in poultry flocks have resulted in large-scale culling to minimize spread, this is unlikely to happen for cattle. The CDC has so far told farmers with infected herds to destroy the milk produced by infected cattle, but it is thought that pasteurization can also kill the virus.
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