NEW YORK — The U.S. pays for flu pictures for farmworkers this yr, a method to forestall chicken flu from becoming one thing extra harmful.
Dairy and poultry farms are coping with outbreaks of chicken flu, and 13 employees have picked up infections. All circumstances are delicate and are believed to have unfold immediately from contaminated animals to individuals.
However well being officers are frightened about what may occur if individuals are contaminated with chicken flu and seasonal flu on the identical time. It is doable the viruses may swap gene segments, in a course of that scientists name reassortment. Fowl flu, for instance, may achieve the flexibility to unfold as simply amongst individuals as seasonal flu does.
To stop coinfections, the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention on Tuesday stated it is going to spend $5 million to purchase seasonal flu pictures and get livestock employees vaccinated this fall, working with state and native officers. One other $5 million might be spent to advertise the pictures.
“We wish to do all the pieces we are able to to scale back the chance that the virus could change,” stated the CDC’s Dr. Nirav Shah.
Learn Extra: We Are Not Secure from Fowl Flu Till We Shield Farmworkers
Seasonal flu pictures don’t defend in opposition to chicken flu. However they could cut back coinfections, he stated. The CDC can be discussing the opportunity of providing some farmworkers the antiviral remedy Tamiflu to forestall getting the flu, Shah stated.
U.S. officers say there are at the very least 200,000 livestock employees within the nation. In keeping with the Nationwide Heart for Farmworker Well being, a few quarter of livestock employees sometimes get a seasonal flu shot.
Manufacturing of a restricted quantity of chicken flu vaccine for individuals is underway, however the authorities will not be recommending it for farmworkers. There is not the sort of person-to-person unfold that might set off that sort of vaccination marketing campaign, Shah stated.
A chicken flu virus has been spreading since 2020 amongst mammals—together with canine, cats, skunks, bears and even seals and porpoises—in scores of nations. Earlier this yr, the virus referred to as H5N1 was detected in U.S. livestock.
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AP well being author JoNel Aleccia contributed to this report.
