The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) reported two new cases of the H5 avian flu virus among dairy workers, increasing the state’s total to 36. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed a presumptive case in Wisconsin, raising the national total to 64 from nine states since January.
California is monitoring over 5,000 people and has tested 130 with potential symptoms. State health officials say the governor’s emergency proclamation has helped mobilize more staff and resources to address the virus in dairy herds, poultry flocks, and isolated infections.
As of today, 66 out of 679 quarantined dairy farms have been released. The state is proactively testing at dairy farms, including those in the southern part of the state where the virus was detected recently. Testing has also been extended to North Coast dairy farms with fewer farms than Central Valley.
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) confirmed nine more H5N1 detections in California’s dairy cattle, bringing the state total to 659. Nationally, the total is now 875 across 16 states. Two new outbreaks in poultry have also been reported, involving two commercial game bird farms in Kansas with a combined 11,000 birds.
Source: https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/avian-influenza-bird-flu/avian-flu-infects-2-more-california-dairy-workers-cdc-confirms-wisconsin