The American Center for Disease Control and Prevention indicates that the risk of a bird flu epidemic in humans is low, although the Illinois health service is preparing for the possibility.
Friday, the Trump administration would have licensee 1,300 employees probationary of the CDC, which led to national levels to contain the bird flu. The layoff would affect 10% of the workforce’s workforce.
It comes after the administration interrupted Communications from federal health agencies with the public on January 21 for more than a week. The break prohibited the CDC from publishing their weekly Weekly report of morbidity and mortality, which included one of the three reports on the bird flu planned to be published the week of January 21.
The CDC has been monitoring and responded to cases of infection since the first Congress of a transferred strain of the virus in commercial poultry In the United States, in February 2022 – although it is not clear how leadership changes and recent personnel cuts will affect this surveillance.
The new American Ministry of Health and Social Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Public health crisis.
While the changes in federal policy create uncertainty, the director of the Illinois Department of Public Health said that this week said that the virus was “not an active risk” for Illinois humans because that no human propagation to human has been recorded. But the state has taken measures to limit its spread among animals.
No human -known human propagation
Bird flu is the term used for H5N1 avian flu, the disease caused by an infection by type A aviary viruses. It occurs naturally in the populations of wild aquatic birds, but has spread to the domestic poultry and other species of birds and animals in the United States
This generally does not infect humans. However, recent human infections occurred after close or prolonged unprotected contact with infected sick or dead birds and other mammals. Currently, there is 68 cases reported human infections, with associated death. However, 41 of these 68 cases were transmitted from infected dairy cows.
According to Idph, a person can be infected by breathing in the virus or touching something that has the virus on it, then touching the mouth, eyes or nose.
Until now, no human transmission to the human of the bird flu has been recorded. The director of the IDPH, Dr. Sameer Vohra, said that it could change if a person with the bird flu contracts another influenza strain, such as seasonal flu. The two infections could mutate and create a new virus to which humans may not have immunity, and human human infections would likely begin. If this happens, then the concern of a pandemic would come into play.
“And that is why, both thanks to our declarations currently and the declarations of the national CDC, we continue to maintain that the risk for humans is currently low,” said Vohra in an interview. “Our responsibility is to protect the health of our residents here in Illinois, with our partners in AG and DNR (the departments of agriculture and natural resources), and doing everything we can and using the tools At our disposal in preparation, in case we ask a human case or see human transmission to human emerge. »»
The infected people can be asymptomatic or experience light symptoms of the flu such as ocular redness, fever, cough, sore throat, flowing nose or blocked nose, muscles or body, headache, headache, headache, headache, headache, headache, headache, Fatigue and shortness of breath to serious symptoms such as pneumonia. Less common symptoms of diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and crises have been reported.
CDC data shows 909 Human cases of flu birds have been reported worldwide since 1997 and about half of them have died. But all cases of infection are probably not reported or even noticed, because sometimes the virus has no symptoms – which means that a real mortality rate is difficult to quantify.
The Illinois agriculture department published a 30 -day suspension on Tuesday on the display or sale of poultry during exchange competitions, exhibitions, flea markets and auction markets in attempts to reduce the propagation of the virus.
In January, Illinois experienced a relative increase in infection; KakadoodleA family farm in the suburbs of Chicago lost 3,000 chickens with the bird flu. The Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago has lost an infected flamingo and seal, while infections were reported in a wild goose in the county of Tazewell and a captive falcon in the county of Dupage.
The evolution of the bird flu
The 2022 virus epidemic sparked new surveillance immediately raised concerns because there were more than 378.5 million laying chickens in the United States. The USDA said that the bird flu quickly took control of whole herds when even a bird is infected, leaving farmers from other choices than lowering whole herds. This directly contributes to the recent increase in the price and the rarity of eggs, which have reached a High record in January.
According to the Inspection of the Health of Animals and Plants of the USDA, just over 23 million birds have been infected in the past 30 days on January 15, including 159 commercial herds. Infections mammals and birds were reported for the first time at the end of 2022. The first epidemic in several states of the Infection in dairy cows was reported in March 2024 as the transferred virus, creating a new strain and showing its adaptability to life in different animal breeds. Shortly after, the first case of human infection was reported.
“We were lucky, currently, not having any human case of the bird flu here in Illinois, and no case of dairy cattle was positive,” said Vohra. “And one of the things that have been reassuring is that we did not have human transmission on a national scale.”
After the Trump administration’s communications break, the CDC Thursday published a report On the bird flu, which revealed the results of the blood tests carried out last September 150 American veterinarians who work with cattle. He found that three of the veterinarians tested positive for the virus without feeling symptoms. Two of the infected veterinarians practiced in states with known infections in livestock, but the other infected veterinarians practiced in Georgia and South Carolina, two states without infection known in livestock.
The report provided for “the possible benefit of systematic monitoring for rapid identification of the HPAI A (H5) virus in dairy cattle, milk and humans exposed to cattle”.
Learn from Covid-19
Vohra said the IDPH implements security measures that it has learned from the COVVI-19 pandemic. He said that the agency is working with local health services and creates protocols for tests, processing, quarantine and isolation, as well as to ensure that health providers are supplied with the equipment of Appropriate protection, preventive medicine such as the Tamiflu and the quick tests they would need if human transmission begins to occur in Illinois.
The department has also recently created fast tests which can individually identify the two strains of the bird flu. If a person tests positive for the bird flu on a fast test currently used, the tests do not show a distinction between seasonal flu and bird flu. Vohra said that a positive result on new tests would not only show the stump of the influenza, but even what strain of the bird flu infected with.
Since infections are detected at higher rates during fall and spring seasons while birds migrate and distribute the virus faster, state agencies have issued several guides For the general public on the way in which the case of the bird flu.
Advice includes avoiding contact with any bird displaying signs of illness, keeping dogs, cats and other pets far from bird carcasses, and background meat at an internal temperature of 165 degrees fahrenheit.
To be the most effective, the treatment should be started within two days of the infection. IDPH urges anyone who is starting to feel symptoms after contact with a sick or dead bird to immediately speak to a health care provider.
If you work with or handle poultry, public members are encouraged to visit the USDA “Defend the herd»Program for advice on biosecurity practices.
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