2/
...unless said precautions no longer make the leaders and their cronies money...
... unless said precautions endanger the economy...
... unless said precautions let very very expensive office buildings sit vacant...
Avian flu is different though.
"People should avoid unprotected (not using respiratory or eye protection) exposures to sick or dead animals including wild birds, poultry, other domesticated birds...
2/
...Personal protective equipment (PPE) should be worn when in direct or close contact (within about six feet) with sick or dead animals...
People exposed to HPAI A(H5N1)-virus infected birds or other animals (including people wearing recommended PPE) should monitor themselves for new respiratory illness symptoms, including conjunctivitis (eye redness), beginning after their first exposure and for 10 days after their last exposure...
...Influenza antiviral post-exposure prophylaxis may be considered to prevent infection, particularly in those who had unprotected exposure to HPAI A(H5N1)-virus infected birds or other animals...
Persons who develop any illness symptoms after exposure to HPAI A(H5N1) virus infected birds or other animals should seek prompt medical evaluation for possible influenza testing and antiviral treatment by their clinician or public health department...
4/
Symptomatic persons should isolate away from others, including household members, except for seeking medical evaluation until it is determined that they do not have HPAI A(H5N1) virus infection.
(What is this isolation they speak of??)
To reduce the risk of HPAI A(H5N1) virus infection, poultry farmers and poultry workers, backyard bird flock owners, livestock farmers and workers, veterinarians and veterinary staff, and responders should...
5/
...should avoid unprotected direct physical contact or close exposure with sick or dead birds or other animals, carcasses, feces, milk, or litter from sick birds or other animals potentially infected or confirmed to be infected with HPAI A(H5N1) virus.
Farmers, workers, and responders should wear recommended PPE such as an N95 filtering facepiece respirator, eye protection, and gloves, and perform thorough hand washing after contact...
6/
...when in direct contact with sick or dead birds or other animals, carcasses, feces, or litter from potentially infected birds or other animals, and when going into any buildings with or that have had sick or dead birds or other animals, carcasses, feces, or litter from potentially infected birds or other animals.
Workers should receive training on and demonstrate an understanding of when to use PPE; what PPE is necessary; how to properly...
7/
...put on, use, take off, dispose of, and maintain PPE; and PPE limitations. Employers subject to ...OSHA regulations should comply with applicable standards as highlighted on the OSHA Avian Influenza – Standards page.
Clinicians should consider the possibility of HPAI A(H5N1) virus infection in persons showing signs or symptoms of acute respiratory illness who have relevant exposure history.
...public health department to arrange testing for influenza A(H5N1) virus, collect recommended respiratory specimens (see below) using PPE, consider starting empiric antiviral treatment (see below), and encourage the patient to isolate at home away from their household members and not go to work or school until it is determined they do not have avian influenza A virus infection...
9/
...Testing for other potential causes of acute respiratory illness should also be considered depending upon the local epidemiology of circulating respiratory viruses, including SARS-CoV-2.
State health department officials should investigate potential human cases of HPAI A(H5N1) virus infection as described below and should notify CDC within 24 hours of identifying a case under investigation...
10/
...Rapid detection and characterization of novel influenza A viruses in humans remain critical components of national efforts to prevent further cases, to allow for evaluation of clinical illness associated with them, and to assess the ability of these viruses to spread from human to human. State Health Department officials, including the State Public Health Veterinarian, should collaborate with...
11/
...with State Department of Agriculture and State Wildlife officials using a One Health approach when relevant to investigate suspected HPAI A(H5N1) infections in people linked with animals.
People exposed to HPAI A(H5N1)-infected birds or other animals (including people wearing recommended PPE) should be monitored for signs and symptoms of acute respiratory illness beginning after their first exposure...
12/
(Gee I wonder if that's a typo and they mean 1 day 🤔 /snark)
Patients who meet Epidemiologic criteria AND either Clinical OR Public Health Response criteria below should be tested for HPAI A(H5N1) virus infection by reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay using H5-specific primers and probes at your state or local public health department...
13/
I don't know -- maybe all of the shit the #covid prevention community is already doing. But that would be too embarrassing, wouldn't it? Good thing you can't die of embarrassment
And via Helen Branswell 🇨🇦 @HelenBranswell
5:08 PM · Apr 1, 2024
"Having covered #H5N1#birdflu for a very long time now, I don't like seeing it move into new species & I don't like human infections. That said, this situation — human case in Texas, caught from cows — probably isn't as unsettling as it might seem."
Highly pathogenic avian flu, H5N1 Bird Flu, has infected a worker in Texas, only the 2nd known human infection in the U.S. since the pandemic began, in 2022.
This directly follows an outbreak of H5N1 in Texas dairy cattle that has already spread to other states. Already, billions of birds have died in this pandemic, both domestic chickens & turkeys, as well as wild birds. It has not yet mutated into a form that is transmissible from human to human. However, gaining the ability to transmit between mammals, particularly farm animals, could be a step in that evolutionary direction. And its case fatality rate may be as high as 50%
"According to the CDC’s April 1 announcement, the person who tested positive had contact with cows in Texas presumed to have bird flu. Their only reported symptom was conjunctivitis-like eye redness. They were told to isolate and are recovering after being treated with flu antivirals, which seem to work against the virus, the CDC says. (Seasonal flu vaccines do not protect against avian flu, however.)"
A Texas dairy worker has tested positive for the avian flu, marking the first identified human case of an illness in the U.S. that has sickened cattle across several states over the past few weeks.
The infection, only the second human case of H5N1 ever recorded in the country, is worrying public health experts who for decades have cautioned that avian flu could pose a serious threat.
“Every single time is a little bit of Russian roulette,” said veteran public health expert Ashish Jha, who led the Biden administration’s Covid-19 response. “You play that game long enough and one of these times it will become fit to spread among humans.”
When you have epidemiologists and virus experts declaring 'this is terrifying' maybe we should wake up and take notice
The next pandemic might already be here; not only are we not prepared, we have become violently opposed to public health measures, our leaders want us to wallow in blissful ignorance
If bird flu does cross over into the human population it will be devastating - Covid is nothing compared to H5N1
"The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as well as state veterinary and public health officials, are investigating an illness among primarily older dairy cows in Texas, Kansas, and New Mexico that is causing decreased lactation, low appetite, and other symptoms.
As of Monday, March 25, unpasteurized, clinical samples of milk from sick cattle collected from two dairy farms in Kansas and one in Texas, as well as an oropharyngeal swab from another dairy in Texas, have tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI)."