For the most recent case, a nasal swab for H5N1 was negative, while an eye swab confirmed the presence of the virus, leading experts to worry that health officials could be missing cases.
“The Center for Disease Control laboratory is one of the few laboratories that can test eye specimens for H5N1 – this needs to be resolved, easier access to eye swabs is needed to protect and diagnose farmworkers,” said Dr. Jennifer Nuzzo, director of the Pandemic Center and professor of epidemiology at Brown University on X (formerly Twitter).
“If symptoms are mild and a person has eye symptoms, this may be attributed to viral or bacterial conjunctivitis rather than considering testing for H5N1,” added Dr. Krutika Kuppalli, a spokesperson for the Infectious Disease Society of America and former WHO medical officer.
“The current health risk to the general public remains low,” said Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian, chief medical executive at the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services in a rack.
“This virus is being closely monitored and we have not seen any signs of ongoing human-to-human transmission at this time,” she added.
Experts believe it's likely we'll see more human cases of H5N1 among dairy workers in the coming weeks and months as surveillance efforts ramp up across America.
To address reluctance to test animals and humans due to potential financial losses in products, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced earlier this month a new assistance program of up to $2,000 per affected farm for facilities that support worker testing. facilitate local and federal public health. agencies – hoping it will help experts better understand how the virus spreads.
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