RonO
2024-07-31 20:57:02 UTC
https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2024/07/31/nx-s1-5059071/bird-flu-human-cases-farm-workers-testing
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.07.27.24310982v1
This article paints a pretty grim picture. It includes information on
an draft paper that has not yet been peer reviewed indicating that as
was already known dairy worker infections have gone undetected and under
reported. They tested 17 dairy workers that had reported flu like
symptoms. As expected nasal swabs were negative for all 17 (nasal swabs
were negative for the first two known infected humans, but they had
positive eye swabs). 14 of the 17 had serum samples tested for
neutralizing antibodies to H5N1 and 2 of them were positive indicating
previous infection with H5N1. In Michigan 35 dairy workers had serum
samples tested, but they were apparently selected because they had not
shown symptoms. All 35 were negative, and Michigan did not include the
two known positive dairy workers in the study.
The article also has information from Dairy workers indicating that they
have not been informed of the issue, and have not been issued protective
equipment.
Indications are that the USDA and CDC are failing to limit the exposure
of humans to the dairy virus, and that many more herds are infected in
many more states than are now known, and many more dairy workers have
been infected than the CDC is aware of. The CDC claims that a pathetic
total of 117 humans (most of them dairy workers) have been tested for
H5N1 and only 4 tested positive, but over 30 of those tests were only
nasal swabs, that are known not to identify infected individuals. There
should have been a testing program in place in March of this year, but
of the thousands of farm workers that are likely affected by the spread
of the dairy virus only 117 have been tested. No contact tracing, nor
program to identify infected herds has been initiated, so the virus has
been allowed to spread unchecked in states that refuse to acknowledge
that they have the issue because they refuse to test the dairy herds in
their state.
The CDC has just admitted that they have been working with a defective
detection test that has likely been used for most of the human tests
from the start, and haven't yet resolved the issue with the company they
blame for producing the defective test kits.
Everyone has known that all the USDA and CDC needed to do was start
testing pooled milk samples since the FDA identify H5N1 in dairy
products from 15 states when only 9 were known to have infected herds at
that time. They could have used the FDA detection protocol. 4 more
states have been identified with infected herds since then and 3 of them
had been identified as producing positive dairy products by the FDA in
early May. There are 6 more states that were found to produce positive
dairy products by the FDA that have not yet admitted to having infected
herds.
Ron Okimoto
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.07.27.24310982v1
This article paints a pretty grim picture. It includes information on
an draft paper that has not yet been peer reviewed indicating that as
was already known dairy worker infections have gone undetected and under
reported. They tested 17 dairy workers that had reported flu like
symptoms. As expected nasal swabs were negative for all 17 (nasal swabs
were negative for the first two known infected humans, but they had
positive eye swabs). 14 of the 17 had serum samples tested for
neutralizing antibodies to H5N1 and 2 of them were positive indicating
previous infection with H5N1. In Michigan 35 dairy workers had serum
samples tested, but they were apparently selected because they had not
shown symptoms. All 35 were negative, and Michigan did not include the
two known positive dairy workers in the study.
The article also has information from Dairy workers indicating that they
have not been informed of the issue, and have not been issued protective
equipment.
Indications are that the USDA and CDC are failing to limit the exposure
of humans to the dairy virus, and that many more herds are infected in
many more states than are now known, and many more dairy workers have
been infected than the CDC is aware of. The CDC claims that a pathetic
total of 117 humans (most of them dairy workers) have been tested for
H5N1 and only 4 tested positive, but over 30 of those tests were only
nasal swabs, that are known not to identify infected individuals. There
should have been a testing program in place in March of this year, but
of the thousands of farm workers that are likely affected by the spread
of the dairy virus only 117 have been tested. No contact tracing, nor
program to identify infected herds has been initiated, so the virus has
been allowed to spread unchecked in states that refuse to acknowledge
that they have the issue because they refuse to test the dairy herds in
their state.
The CDC has just admitted that they have been working with a defective
detection test that has likely been used for most of the human tests
from the start, and haven't yet resolved the issue with the company they
blame for producing the defective test kits.
Everyone has known that all the USDA and CDC needed to do was start
testing pooled milk samples since the FDA identify H5N1 in dairy
products from 15 states when only 9 were known to have infected herds at
that time. They could have used the FDA detection protocol. 4 more
states have been identified with infected herds since then and 3 of them
had been identified as producing positive dairy products by the FDA in
early May. There are 6 more states that were found to produce positive
dairy products by the FDA that have not yet admitted to having infected
herds.
Ron Okimoto