The new report suggests that more Americans may be roaming with the bird flu and don’t know about it.
Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention randomly tested 150 veterinarians for antibodies to H5N1 or avian influenza. This indicates whether there is a recent infection.
Three veterinarians specializing in cattle tested positive, according to a study published in Thursday’s morbidity and mortality report. The vet said he had never experienced flu-like symptoms.
Two veterinarians said there was no known exposure to animals where avian flu is known or suspected, while the other said that avian flu infections were not practiced with known conditions among cows.
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This report adds to a wealth of evidence suggesting that people may have asymptomatic avian influenza infections, indicating infections that exhibit obvious symptoms. In November, the CDC posted a study that found that dairy workers may have become ill without showing symptoms after being exposed to infected cows.
Asymptomatic diseases played a role in how Covid-19 spread in 2020.
The virus was able to spread undetectable.
It is still unclear whether avian flu can be transmitted asymptomatically, but experts tell USA Today that the number of cases of avian flu is much higher than reported.
“I don’t know the whole picture right now,” Dr. Ben Bradley, an assistant professor at the Department of Pathology at the University of Utah School of Medicine, said at a briefing in December.
Unlike the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, there are already tests to detect H5N1, a subtype of influenza A, but people infected with avian flu who have not experienced symptoms are unlikely to get tested.
According to the Cleveland Clinic, most people with avian flu infections usually experience mild symptoms, including pink eyes, fever, fatigue, cough, muscle pain, nausea, nausea, suffocating nose, shortness of breath, shortness of breath .
However, the more undetected the virus spreads, the more chances there are to mutate into something more dangerous to humans.
“Public health officials are very concerned about this possibility,” said Dr. Elizabeth Jacobs, an internal medicine physician at the University of California Riverside Health and chairman of the Department of Internal Medicine. “The virus that causes H5N1 in avian flu is following the same pathways that other viruses were taken to make them more efficient in spreading to humans.”
Since April, the CDC has said nearly 70 people have contracted the avian flu and one has died. This includes new cases recently reported in Nevada and Ohio.
The H5N1 virus has reduced milk production in cows and boosted the price of eggs by wiping millions of chickens.
“We see the H5N1 virus itself becoming smarter than we all,” said Dr. Beth Thompson, a state veterinarian in South Dakota.
Contribution: Reuters.
Adrianna Rodriguez can visit [email protected].