The risk to the population continues to remain low, as reported by health authorities, but the USA has nevertheless reported the second human case of highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza, linked to the epidemic that affected dairy cows in several states of the country . The infection was confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in a dairy worker in Michigan: the New York Times reports.
The Michigan case
The man, the CDC explained, “reported only ocular symptoms”, just as had recently happened to a Texas worker suffering from hemorrhagic conjunctivitis and considered the first human case linked to the epidemic among cows in the United States. as well as the first person in the world to have contracted the avian virus from a bovine. According to expert assessments, “based on the information available this infection does not change the current assessment of the risk that H5N1 avian influenza poses to human health”. The American agency, in fact, continues to consider the risk “low for the general population”, although people with close or prolonged and unprotected exposures to infected birds or other animals, including livestock, or to environments contaminated by birds or other infected animals, “are at greater risk of infection”. But, for this category of people, the CDC highlights “the importance of recommended precautions”.
Analyzes
Meanwhile, two samples of biological material were taken from the Michigan worker, one from the nose and the other from the eyes. The nasal one tested negative for the influenza virus, while the ocular one was sent to the CDC, whose laboratories are among the few centers able to subject the samples to the specific test. In this case the test confirmed the avian virus infection. “Attempts to sequence the virus in the ocular sample are underway”, add the CDC. “Further genetic analyzes will seek” to understand whether the pathogen shows “any mutations that could change the agency’s risk assessment.”
