A new study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that some dairy farm employees showed signs of infection, even when they didn’t report feeling sick. The CDC concluded that more bird flu testing of dairy farm employees is required. According to Dr.
Nirav Shah, the CDC’s principal director, dairy employees who come into close contact with potentially infected animals should be tested and offered treatment even if they show no symptoms. The new CDC guidance follows a finding that blood tests for 115 farmworkers in Michigan and Colorado showed that eight workers — or 7 percent — had antibodies that indicated previous infection with the bird flu virus known as Type A H5N1 influenza . “The purpose of these actions is to keep workers safe, to limit the transmission of H5 to humans and to reduce the possibility of the virus changing,” Shah said.
The new CDC study provides the largest window to date into how the bird virus detected last March in dairy cows may be spreading to people. The study suggests the virus has infected more humans than the 46 farmworkers currently identified in the U.S.
. Nearly all were in contact with infected dairy cows or infected poultry. The study prompting the CDC to take new action is seen as significant.
Currently, the CDC recommendations have called for testing and treating workers only when they have symptoms. The call for more testing testing means the CDC sees the H5N1 viruses as a greater risk than its previous estima.