Following the discovery of the dangerous bird flu virus A(H5N1) in dairy cows in the US, the World Health Organization (WHO) has reiterated existing recommendations to consume only pasteurized dairy products.
The background: In the US state of Texas, a man who worked on a cattle farm tested positive for the A(H5N1) virus – krone.at reports. Exactly how the transmission occurred is still under investigation, the head of the WHO flu program, Wenqing Zhang, said in Geneva on Friday.
It is the first known case of cow-to-human transmission. “Human infections with A(H5N1) remain rare and are associated with contact with infected animals and the environment,” she stressed.
Man became infected on American cattle farm
US authorities informed the WHO of the man’s infection in early April and also reported that the virus (photo below) had been found in unpasteurized milk. According to American information, the man only had mild complaints, such as red eyes that resembled conjunctivitis.
According to American information, cows are probably infected by wild birds. So far, the virus has only been found in dairy cows in the US. According to the WHO, 29 herds in eight states have been affected. Analyzes of the virus have shown that it does not exhibit changes that would make it more adaptable to mammals, Wenqing said.
“The current outbreaks have also recorded transmissions from birds to cows, from cows to cows and from cows to birds, indicating that the virus may have found different transmission routes than we previously thought,” Wenqing said.
Virus A(H5N1) first appeared in 1996
The highly pathogenic avian influenza virus A(H5N1) first emerged in 1996, but since 2020 infections among birds have increased rapidly, affecting more and more mammals, including mink, seals, sea lions and foxes. The largest wave of bird flu ever documented is currently raging across almost the entire world and is also affecting Europe. WHO is currently working with partners on a new risk assessment regarding (A)H5N1.
According to the WHO, nearly 900 cases of A(H5N1) infections in humans have been reported since 2003. Half of them died. However, according to the WHO, it cannot be ruled out that many more people were infected, but showed no symptoms and the cases were therefore not discovered.
Source: Krone
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