The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that there have been 11 cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza in humans since the first was reported in 2022, and 10 of them were this year.
There are now two poultry farms in Weld County with birds infected with highly pathogenic avian influenza, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment reported Thursday. There are three confirmed cases at the second farm and six confirmed cases at the first farm. Another human case was found in a dairy farm worker, also in Colorado.
H5N1 is a virus that has spread among mammals since 2020 and was detected in U.S. livestock earlier this year.
State and federal health officials have said the virus is not a concern for the general public, as there’s been no evidence of person-to-person transmission. If contracted in humans, common symptoms include fever, cough, sore throat, eye redness or pink eye, shortness of breath, muscle or body aches and headaches.
Mike Weber watches an employee clean a hen house at his egg farm in Petaluma, Calif. on Thursday, Jan. 11, 2024. His company Sunrise Farms had to euthanize 550,000 chickens after avian flu was detected among the flock. A year after the bird flu led to record egg prices and widespread shortages, the disease known as highly pathogenic avian influenza is wreaking havoc in California, which escaped the earlier wave of outbreaks that that devastated poultry farms in the Midwest.
U.S. Rep. Yadira Caraveo, who represents Colorado’s 8th Congressional District, publicized a letter Thursday to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services asking what the department is planning to help mitigate the H5N1 outbreak. The letter was signed by Caraveo and U.S. Reps. Brittany Pettersen, Joe Neguse, Diana DeGette and Jason Crow. The letter also noted that there have been a lot of obstacles for workers who have tested positive for H5N1.
For one, workers at a poultry farm in Weld County who were tasked with culling the flock after it became infected were working in extreme temperatures in Colorado. The region set several records for high temperatures, and the level of personal protective equipment needed for culling is higher than for regular work: full-body suits, N95 respirators and goggles.
At the same time, to help with the heat, large-scale industrial fans were circulating feathers in the barns, which also can spread the virus.
The letter noted that there are H5N1 vaccines. Since May, the CDC has only tested about 118 people, according to CDPHE, and is not offering the vaccine to at-risk populations like farm workers.
“We need to do everything possible to prevent further HPAI infections and potential hospitalizations among our farmworkers and other high-risk populations,” the delegation members wrote. “These efforts are crucial to developing an efficient, coordinated response and reducing the onset and spread of HPAI across the country.”
Cow dairies under bird flu surveillance
On Tuesday, the Colorado Department of Agriculture announced the implementation of mandatory statewide surveillance for all CDPHE-licensed commercial cow dairies.
“We have been navigating this challenging, novel outbreak of HPAI in dairy operations for nearly three months in Colorado and have not been able to curb the spread of disease at this point,” Dr. Maggie Baldwin, Colorado state veterinarian, said in the department’s announcement. “We have seen devastating impacts of this disease not only to our dairy industry, but our poultry industry as well. With the strong support of the dairy and poultry industries, we feel that this is the best next step in order to protect these vital industries in our state.”
The Department of Agriculture also noted that there have been two “spillover” events from dairy cows with the H5N1 strain into commercial poultry facilities , resulting in the depopulation of over 3.2 million chickens in July. In the approximately two years between April 2022 and March 2024, the state reported 33 flocks with the virus, which resulted in depopulation of over 6.3 million domestic poultry.
CDPHE recommends that anyone interacting with poultry, fowl or livestock should take precautions, including wearing the recommended personal protective equipment, washing your hands after contact with birds or animals, dressing game birds in the field when possible and observing livestock and poultry for any signs of illness.
As the number of cases continues to grow, the state plans to publish a data table for human cases across the state. The state health department said in a Thursday release that the table will include the number of presumptive positive human cases, confirmed human cases, the approximate number of people tested, and a link to the Colorado Department of Agriculture which shares the number of impacted dairy and poultry farms.
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