A nine-person team from the federal Centers For Disease Control and Prevention is on the ground in Colorado as the nation’s top infectious disease expert confirmed four more human cases of highly pathogenic bird flu in the state.
The four additional human cases of H5 bird flu that emerged in Northern Colorado this weekend, with a fifth still pending, double the case count from before the weekend.
Three presumptive positive cases were reported from that state on Friday. A fourth specimen was found presumptive positive by the state later Friday.
The CDC is also aware of an additional presumptive positive case in Colorado that will be confirmed with CDC once the specimen arrives.
The new cases of human illness involve farm workers involved in depopulating poultry at a poultry farm where the H5N1 virus broke out.
The Colorado CDC team is supporting the assessment of the poultry outbreak and associated human cases. Given current information, the CDC reports that the risk to the public from this outbreak remains low.
The CDC says the new cases in Colorado once again underscore the risk of exposure to infected animals. Otherwise, there has been no unexpected increase in flu activity in Colorado or other states affected by outbreaks of H5 bird flu in cows and poultry.
Before last weekend, the total number of human bird flu cases in the United States was five. Four monitored exposure to dairy cows between April 1 and July 3.
One tracked exposure to poultry (reported April 28). The total number of cases in the US has doubled, with confirmations coming in.
Colorado requested that the CDC team be sent to the state to assist with the ongoing investigation. The state said all of the people who tested presumptive positive experienced mild symptoms and were workers involved in the depopulation of poultry at a poultry facility experiencing an outbreak of the H5N1 virus that is circulating in wild birds and has caused outbreaks in multiple states. in dairy cows and poultry.
CDC offers this advice to the public:
- People should avoid unprotected exposure to animal feces, litter, unpasteurized (“raw”) milk, or materials that have been touched by or near birds or other animals with suspected or confirmed A(H5N1) virus.
- The CDC has interim recommendations for preventing, monitoring, and conducting public health investigations of A(H5N1) virus infections in humans. The CDC has updated its recommendations for the use of worker protection and personal protective equipment (PPE). Following these recommendations is critical to reducing risk to an individual and limiting the overall risk to public health.
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