The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed a new human case of H5N1 in California. This brings the total number of cases to 67 across the country. The CDC data reveals that California has been the worst affected by the ongoing bird flu outbreak with 38 of the total cases reported. The recent case reported involves a child from San Francisco who developed fever and conjunctivitis but was not hospitalized and has now recovered.?
Most of the infections reported have been linked to exposure to sick dairy cows and poultry, however, there have been two cases with undetermined exposure and both of these cases involved children.?
While the CDC emphasized that the risk to the general public remains low, there are certain groups of people who have a higher risk. These include; farm workers exposed to sick animals or their byproducts, backyard bird flock owners, animal care workers and public health responders.?
According to a report in NBC News, The CDC has also urged labs across the nation to determine within 24 hours of admission whether people hospitalized with the flu have seasonal influenza or are infected with the bird flu virus. This comes amid the rising number of human cases of bird flu linked to dairy cows and poultry.?
Dr. Nirav Shah, the CDC’s principal deputy director, during a media briefing, said that the guidance for labs to do this type of testing has been in place since last fall, however, the process has been slow, with many hospitals sending flu samples out for testing in bulk every few days. And by the time the results come back, the patients have already been sent home.?
This eventually affects bird flu investigations. Shah said, "The more time that goes by, the more memories fade and the harder it is to identify a potential source.” Shah added that "their close contacts may be beyond the window for preventative medications like Tamiflu."
“The system right now tells us what has already happened. What we need is to shift to a system that tells us what’s happening in the moment,” Shah said.
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