As H5N1 bird flu spreads among California dairy herds and southward-migrating birds, health officials disclosed six new human cases of illness on Friday: five in California and one in Oregon, the state’s first.
A seventh probable California case is awaiting confirmation from the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
All of the recorded instances have been regarded as minor, with each thought to have contracted the illness from infected livestock or poultry. In California, the illnesses spread among dairy workers. In Oregon, the patient was a poultry worker.
Erica Pan, California’s state epidemiologist, stated that the disclosure of five cases today may appear to be an explosion or acceleration in cases, but it was an artifact of state reporting deadlines. Three cases were confirmed by the CDC on Wednesday, after California’s reporting deadline. The other two were confirmed on Thursday, which is a day when California does not post case figures.
In addition, Monday was a holiday, which hampered reporting even more.
“I would still call these sporadic animals or human infections, and there’s still no evidence of any human-to-human,” the epidemiologist stated. “These are all workers who are at risk of exposure based on their work exposures.”
In the Oregon case, the individual caught the disease as a result of a previously known epidemic of infected commercial chicken operations in Clackamas County. The Oregon Health Authority stated that there is “no evidence of person-to-person transmission, and the risk to the public is low.”
According to the agency, the victim has entirely recovered after being treated with oseltamivir, an antiviral drug. The health agency also prescribed antiviral medication to those who shared a residence with the sufferer.
The H5N1 virus has infected 52 people since March, according to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Dairy cattle were responsible for 30 of these cases, while poultry accounted for 21. The cause of one more instance in Missouri is unknown. In addition, a youngster in British Columbia was infected by an unknown source and was hospitalized in critical condition on Friday.
Twenty-six cases have been identified in California, including the five most recent. Everyone had been in contact with contaminated dairy cows.
WastewaterScan, an infectious disease monitoring network led by academics from Stanford University and Emory University, with laboratory support from Verily, Alphabet Inc.’s life sciences unit, monitors 28 wastewater sites in California.
All but seven contain detectable levels of H5. It is unclear what the source is in each system, but specialists believe it could be unpasteurized milk, wild bird droppings, or abandoned contaminated animal goods.
Gilroy, Indio, Lompoc, Los Angeles County, Los Angeles, Marina, Merced, Napa, San Francisco, Ontario, Palo Alto, Redwood City, Riverside, Sacramento, San Diego, San José, Santa Cruz, Southeast San Francisco, Sunnyvale, Turlock, and Vallejo are among the cities and municipalities that have detected the virus since November 1.