Three veterinarians in the United States tested positive for avian influenza last fall, according to a report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CDC, and two of them had had no known contact with infected animals. This raises concerns that the H5N1 virus may be more widespread among dairy cows than previously thought. So far, avian influenza has affected nearly 1,000 farms in 16 states and infected about 70 people, resulting in one death. The fear is that cases are underestimated because farmers and workers fear economic losses and refuse testing. Recently, the Trump Administration suspended the publication of CDC’s “Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report” (MMWR), halting the release of crucial studies on avian flu.
The new study, published in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, by the CDCs just before the suspension sought by the Trump administration, found that three of the 150 veterinarians from 46 states and Canada who cared for cows on farms and agreed to undergo testing, or 2 percent, had developed antibodies in their blood against avian influenza. This finding, according to the researchers, indicates that the vets had been infected with the virus and although they had no symptoms, their immune systems had reacted by developing antibodies resistant to the H5N1 virus.
Dr. Jennifer Nuzzo, director of the Pandemic Center at Brown University, said of the study, “Avian influenza is spreading where there is no control.” “I think the conclusion here is that there are vets who may have been infected in states that had not reported outbreaks, which is bad. “This shows the need to improve our surveillance so that we can better detect when outbreaks occur on the farm so that we can protect people.” However, the expert also adds that based on the data produced by the study, “there may be a large number of mild infections that could make us think that this virus is in several cases, much milder than it has ever been in the past.”
Regarding the mode of spread of the H5N1 virus, Erin Sorrell, a senior researcher at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security points out : “This report tells us that this virus can infect and present without symptoms in animals and that a sufficient amount of virus is released directly from the animal to the veterinarian or through contact with surfaces infecting the veterinarian.”
