A toddler who visited Marin County throughout Thanksgiving week is being examined for a doable an infection of H5N1, the chicken flu.
Marin’s public well being officer, Dr. Lisa Santora, stated the kid examined constructive for influenza sort A at a hospital. The sort A class contains chicken flu. The kid had been visiting from out of state for the vacation.
“Additional local and state testing was unable to confirm if a seasonal flu or avian flu subtypes,” Santora stated.
The employees submitted a specimen from the affected person to the federal Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention, or CDC. The county expects to obtain the take a look at outcomes by the top of the week, Santora stated Monday.
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H5N1, which usually infects poultry flocks and wild birds, has been transmitted to at the least 58 folks in the US this 12 months, in accordance with the CDC. Thirty-two circumstances have been reported in California.
A human case of H5N1 was reported in Alameda County final month. Authorities have no idea the affected person’s supply of publicity, the Marin County public well being employees reported.
Signs of the virus in human circumstances embody eye redness, gentle flu-like signs, fever, pneumonia, fatigue and respiration difficulties, the CDC says.
Marin County’s public well being employees reported that H5N1 has been detected in wild birds, poultry and wastewater in Marin. Final month, the employees began investigating “presumptive” constructive take a look at outcomes at a poultry farm.
H5N1 outbreaks prompted the euthanization of 1.2 million birds by business producers in Sonoma County final 12 months, officers stated
Santora stated H5N1 handed from birds to cattle this 12 months.
“We’re not seeing the same level of severity in cows themselves,” she stated.
Cows could be quarantined and returned to exploit manufacturing after their infectious interval ends, she stated.
In late November, the California Division of Public Well being suggested the general public to not eat uncooked milk merchandise after H5N1 was detected in bulk milk and retail samples at a uncooked milk processing facility.
The U.S. Division of Agriculture ordered H5N1 testing within the nation’s milk provide this month.
“This will give farms and farmworkers better confidence in the safety of their animals and ability to protect themselves, and it will put us on a path to quickly controlling and stopping the virus’ spread nationwide,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack stated in a press release.
Santora stated her employees’s major concern is dairy and poultry employees in Marin County.
“Just like any viral transmission, having enhanced hand hygiene is an important factor,” she stated.
Santora added that dairy and poultry farmers are additionally being inspired to observe for potential H5N1 sicknesses.
“Early detection is the key for farms to identify sick animals and quarantine them as soon as possible to minimize any harm to the animals,” she stated.
The Related Press contributed to this report.
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