An aviar flu propagation strain among dairy cows in Nevada has infected a dairy worker in the state, the centers for disease control and prevention said Monday.
It was discovered that the patient, who had been working with sick cows, had an aviar flu strain called D1.1, which has long circulated in wild birds. It is different from the voltage of the virus caused by most human infections in the United States, called B3.13.
D1.1 has a mutation that could make the virus spread more easily in mammals.
It was found in dairy cows for the first time last month, also in Nevada, through the National Milk Test Strategy that monitors the avian flu in dairy cows testing its milk.
It marks the second time that a strain of the avian flu virus has “spilled” from the birds to the cows.
“That is a big problem,” said Michael Ostolm, an expert in infectious diseases and director of the Research and Infectious Diseases Center of the University of Minnesota. It is another indication that the virus continues to change.
It is not clear how long D1.1 has been circulating in dairy cows or what are its implications, said Andrea García, vice president of Science, Medicine and Public Health of the American Medical Association, in a YouTube video published by the group on Monday.
“Some experts fear that it can mark a new chapter at the outbreak or that the avian flu is endemic in the United States,” Garcia said. “This is something we follow very closely.”
The virus has generally been deadly in dairy cows, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association. The California Food and Agriculture Department said that 236 of 738 herds infected in that state have recovered. (At the national level, there have been a total of 962 cases in cattle, according to the Department of Agriculture).
But the virus has wreaked havoc on poultry farms. Millions of chickens have been sacrificed, contributing to prices and the shortage of eggs.
The only symptom of the dairy worker in the only symptom of Nevada was Pinkeye and the individual has recovered, the CDC said. None of the person’s nearby contacts has become ill, said the Central Health District of Nevada.
Like the Nevada patient, almost all people infected with avian flu during the past year have had mild symptoms, regardless of what guy they had.
A person in Louisiana who had strain D1.1 died last month. The individual, who was over 65 and had underlying health problems, became ill in December after contacting a rear patio flock and wild birds.
The CDC estimates that D1.1 was responsible for 15 of the 68 human cases of avian flu found last year. In addition to Louisiana, D1.1 cases have been found in Iowa, Oregon, Washington and Wisconsin.
Last month, the CDC said that the US should intensify avian flu tests in hospitalized patients, ideally within 24 hours after admission.
However, almost all human cases of avian flu have been slight. The Nevada patient was not hospitalized.
CDC argue that the risk of avian flu for the general public is low and that there is no evidence that the virus is spreading from person to person.
But now is the time for scientists and public health officials to prepare for that to change, said Osterholm, the expert in infectious diseases.
“We are going to have another influenza pandemic, and when it happens, we should not surprise ourselves,” he said. “But will it be H5 or not? I don’t know.”
