55 Symptomatic Poultry Farmworkers Possibly Infected With H5N1 In Colorado. 3 Already Confirmed Via Lab Testing
Nikhil Prasad Fact checked by:Thailand Medical News Team Jul 13, 2024 5 months, 1 week, 1 day, 16 hours, 45 minutes ago
H5N1 News: Bits and pieces of reports are emerging through various validated sources that a group of 55 poultry farm workers that were busy culling infected chickens at various farms in Colorado had developed symptomatic infections with many displaying conjunctivitis or pink eyes coupled with some showing signs of fever, breathing issues and other symptoms typical of respiratory infections. They had all been sent for testing on Friday.
55 Symptomatic Poultry Farmworkers Possibly Infected With H5N1 In Colorado.
3 Already Confirmed Via Lab Testing.
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment had issued a press statement validating that poultry workers had indeed been infected with a respiratory infection and that three had been confirmed has having being infected with the H5N1 Avian flu virus while the results of the rest of the infected workers are pending.
The media statement further stated that all the infected only had mild symptoms and that none were hospitalized.
https://cdphe.colorado.gov/press-release/colorado-state-health-officials-identify-possible-cases-of-avian-flu-in-colorado
Th U.S. CDC had also issued a press release stating that three cases of presumptive positive H5 Cases in poultry workers in Colorado had been identified.
https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2024/s-0712-3-cases-h5.html
Various local and international
H5N1 News coverages are also reporting about the H5N1 infections among poultry workers in Colorado.
https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/colorado-reports-three-presumptive-human-bird-flu-cases-cdc-says-2024-07-13/#
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/3-colorado-poultry-workers-test-presumptively-positive-bird-flu-h5n1/
So far, no agencies have commented whether human to human transmission of H5N1 avian flu is occurring in these cases and also no agencies has done a detailed genomic sequencing of the H5N1 virus that were found in the infected individuals to see if these strains have evolved or are possessing any unique mutations.
The H5N1 outbreak in human in Colorado is coming at a worse possible time as the state is also witnessing a rise in COVId-19 infections.
https://cdphe.colorado.gov/covid-19/data
COVID-19 hospitalizations in Colorado have risen significantly, with 111 people currently hospitalized compared to 66
at this time last year, marking a nearly 70% increase. However, the accuracy of this data is uncertain as hospitals are no longer mandated to report COVID-19 admissions to the federal government.
There are very high possibilities that co-infections with both the H5N1 and the newer SARS-CoV-2 KP variants could result in some sort of reassortant event that could see a lethal virus variant emerging. (Note that the old school of virology claims that flu viruses cannot ‘reassort’ with coronaviruses is no longer valid).
Even if such a scenario does not occur, co-infections will basically lead to disease severity.
There are also rumors and speculations that the H5N1 spread and also outcomes of the infected are far more worse than that being reported but that the situation is being played down due to directives from the White House as it is an election year. Furthermore, H5N1 deaths and hospitalizations can be easily concealed as most of the poultry and even dairy farm workers in most of the infected states are basically undocumented migrant workers.
Thailand Medical News will be providing more updates on the unfolding situation in Colorado but we strongly recommend all our readers in the United States and also in parts of South East Asia and also in Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Peru to be on their guard and take preventive measures at the moment.
For the latest
H5N1 News, keep on logging to
Thailand Medical News.
Read Also:
https://www.thailandmedical.news/news/breaking-5-year-old-girl-is-second-to-be-infected-with-h5n1-in-cambodia-in-less-than-3-days-more-cases-expected
https://www.thailandmedical.news/news/colorado-reports-male-infected-with-h5n1-from-dairy-cattle-fourth-case-in-united-states-more-cases-expected
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