“Avian emergency, it is transmitted among cattle”: in the United States, countermeasures are being studied to protect humans and avoid the epidemic

The bird flu alert is growing in the United States. The American scientist Eric Topol, executive vice president of Scripps Research, founder and director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute, highlighted in a research the transmission of highly pathogenic H5N1 influenza between “cattle and cattle and from cattle to poultry”. The result of the viral sequencing was presented during […]

The alert is growingavian in the United States. The American scientist Eric Topol, executive vice president Scripps Research, founder and director Scripps Research Translational Institute, highlighted in a research the transmission ofH5N1 flu to high pathogenicity between “bovine and bovine and from cattle to poultry“. The result of the viral sequencing was presented during a summit held overseas and organized in recent days by the Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). “Cases of asymptomatic dairy cattle” but “infected with H5N1” are also confirmed, although “the extent of testing is unclear,” Topol further said.

The avian emergency in dairy cattle is alarming worry in the United States which, as reported by Adnkronosare adopting the necessary measures so that the virus does not reach humans, generating an H5N1 influenza epidemic: “This seems very unlikely. But the more the virus spreads uncontrolled, the greater the reservoirs in which it can proliferate. So it’s better to plan the worst case scenario“. According to Topol the antiviral drug Tamiflubased on the active ingredient oseltamivir, “it would be effective” to counteract any infection in humans. But the track remains hot vaccines in case of necessity. Therefore “if necessary the US could hijack the annual production of influenza vaccines to manufacture anti-H5N1 vaccines on a large scale”.

At the moment there are two “candidate vaccines against H5N1 that agree well with the current sequence” of the virus and exploiting the technology ofmRna “there is the possibility of increasing the supply of vaccine” if needed. Up to now the only human being infected by avian flu in the context of the epidemic among cattle remains one worker of the sector dairy in Texas. The man became infected through direct contact with animals and presented one symptom as his only symptom conjunctivitis. As for routine tests on pigsobserved as they could represent a bridge to humans for the virus, the results have so far been “negative”.