The number of bird flu infections among Colorado poultry workers increased to nine, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told reporters Tuesday, for a total of 14 cases nationwide from exposure to poultry and dairy cattle since 2022.
The cases in Colorado come out of two farms located in Weld County, which is northeast of the Denver metro area. The workers experienced mild symptoms, including conjunctivitis. The CDC assessment of the risk to the public remains low, but poultry workers tasked with culling infected birds are at a heightened risk of infection.
The CDC and Agriculture Department said in a call with reporters that the heat and challenges using personal protective equipment, or PPE, may have contributed to the cases.
“It is just a challenge to wear PPE at all times in a place in which there is high volume fans moving a lot of air, as well as the type of depopulation exercise that was used here,” Eric Deeble, the USDA’s acting senior adviser for H5N1 response, said.
The USDA reported that one of the facilities used CO2 carts to cull the infected birds — a method that required the workers to directly place the chicken in the cart.
Deeble added that a “less than perfect adoption of PPE by the workers” could have contributed to the human cases. But he said the workers are not to blame, and the USDA hasn’t changed its recommendations for the use of PPE.
During the call, the CDC announced that it is providing $5 million to vaccinate livestock workers against the seasonal flu on a voluntary basis amid the growing outbreak. States will submit a plan to implement a vaccination campaign to the CDC, and so the ground-level effort will vary from state to state. The CDC said that $3 million of the funds is earmarked to go to states to carry out their plans.
“Preventing seasonal influenza in these workers, many of whom are also potentially exposed to H5N1 viruses, may also reduce the risk of new versions of the influenza A virus emerging,” Nirav Shah, principal deputy director of the CDC, said. “The seasonal flu vaccine can potentially reduce the risk of co-infection with seasonal and H5N1 influenza viruses.”
The CDC said that it’s already requested states to begin working on its plan for the vaccination campaign, and the effort will kick off in the fall and winter, following the timeline people typically receive the flu vaccine.
The seasonal flu vaccine won’t protect from H5N1, and at this time, CDC does not recommend administering an H5N1 vaccine.
“This is because of the lack of severe illness that we’ve seen thus far, the absence of person to person transmission, the absence of any changes to the virus, and reassuringly, the absence of asymptomatic infection,” Shah said.
The CDC also announced that it would invest $5 million for farm worker health and safety outreach and education efforts.
Of that amount, $4 million would go to the National Center for Farmworker Health to partner with community based organizations in states with infections to provide training and information sessions. The center also would work with key partners in states to increase access to testing, treatment, PPE and the seasonal flu shot.
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