In its newest updates, the US Division of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Well being Inspection Service (APHIS) reported extra H5N1 avian flu detections in poultry and wild birds, together with a number of pigeons in Michigan’s Ionia County, an space the place the virus has been reported in dairy cows.
In different US developments, a high official from the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention (CDC) yesterday urged state well being and veterinary officers to make sure that private protecting gear (PPE) is on the market to staff on dairy farms, poultry farms, and slaughterhouses.
Pigeons take a look at constructive in a Michigan dairy outbreak space
APHIS yesterday reported 16 extra H5N1 detections in wild birds, half of them rock pigeons that the company harvested from Michigan’s Ionia County, one of many state’s 5 counties that has reported the virus in dairy herds.Â
In some situations, the B3.13 genotype circulating in dairy cows has jumped to wild birds and poultry. APHIS knowledge to date, nonetheless, signifies that the Ionia County samples belong to the Eurasian H5N1 lineage.Â
The company additionally reported the virus in birds discovered useless in three different states—New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. All are linked to the Eurasian H5N1 pressure.Â
Samples for the newest batch of untamed hen samples had been collected in mid to late April.
In different developments, APHIS reported yet another outbreak in poultry, which entails a flock of 600 birds in Idaho’s Cassia County, which final month reported H5N1 in a dairy herd. Idaho’s State Division of Agriculture stated the placement had yard birds.
CDC urges PPE for at-risk farm staff
Yesterday the CDC’s principal deputy director, Nirav Shah, JD, MD, had a name with state well being officers and veterinarians, in addition to leaders from public well being companions, to debate PPE for farm staff, based on CDC’s readout of the assembly. Together with a request to make PPE obtainable to farm staff, Shah beneficial that PPE be prioritized to farms the place H5N1 has been detected in dairy cows.
He requested states to make use of their present PPE stockpiles and advised them how you can request extra PPE, if wanted, from the federal authorities’s Strategic Nationwide Stockpile.
The CDC reiterated that the overall threat to the US public stays low, however it famous that individuals with work exposures could also be at increased threat.
Shah additionally stated the CDC stays able to help state well being officers who’re conducting outbreak response operations.
