On August 22, a US citizen was hospitalized with “unusual symptoms.” Subsequent sampling by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed that the patient was infected with the H5N1 virus. At the same time, 14 cases of bird flu have been recorded in the United States this year. The difference is that in the latter there was no direct connection with infected animals.
The patient could have infected, in addition to a family member, the health care worker who treated him. Although new information from the CDC increases that number to seven workers, increasing the chances infection of avian influenza between people. “The simple answer is: we still don’t know,” he told EL ESPAÑOL. Ursula Hoefleveterinarian and researcher at the Research Institute for Game Resources (IREC-CSIC).
It is true that none of the seven cases have yet been confirmed, but if they were (since everyone developed symptoms), the virus would have been eradicated. We are approaching a “pandemic”as some experts in the US have already warned. Then it won’t be an “isolated incident,” as state officials defined it at a press conference two weeks ago.
The next day, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that two workers who had been in contact with the patient symptoms appeared. “Because no tests were done, we don’t know whether they had bird flu or a cold,” says Hoefle. Compounding the problem, the CDC cannot assign its members to a state unless the state requests it (a request that the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services has not yet made).
The institution was also criticized for the way the situation was handled. “The credibility of (American) health care is at stake,” Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, told trade media. Stat. He also expressed concern about the time it takes to find out who might have been infected and how.
Difficulty identifying cases
The infection of a confirmed patient also worries virologists because he has no known contact with livestock or birds. However, Missouri has not reported any infected herds, as has happened in other parts of the country: 239 herds in 14 states have tested positive for H5N1, although it is suspected that the number may be higher. To date, transmission of the virus has only been confirmed in people who worked on farms with infected animals.
But this new case opens the door for virus mutation and can be more easily transmitted between people. And as a new infection arises, the virus has the “opportunity” to acquire new mutations and evolve into a form that could lead to a possible pandemic.
“It’s a big question,” Hoefle says of the origin of the infection. “There is a first leap – from animals to humans. And then there is the one that happens between people. This last jump can be effective and be the first step towards mass infection or simply cause a local outbreak.
The researcher recalls that in 2005, “there was a lot of fear” because a highly pathogenic strain of bird flu was also causing infection between people. Although there were “isolated cases” The lethality of the virus in humans is close to 60%.. “The new mutation does not cause a pandemic, but the virus may carry the risk of a pandemic.”
Of the workers who were in contact, one of them tested negative. But it is possible that it was carried out too late to detect the infection. The three who subsequently developed symptoms: no tests were carried out for now. Missouri health officials said they are reviewing the results of antibody tests that can reveal whether people have been exposed to the virus.
“What cannot be traced with certainty is whether the source of infection is an already confirmed patient,” says Höfle. For its part, the CDC is analyzing a blood sample from a confirmed case and a family member. To the last No test was performed to confirm infection.despite the fact that he fell ill on the same day that another contact was hospitalized.
One hypothesis that is being ruled out is that the remaining seven cases developed the common flu because it is not the season. Its appearance, expected in early autumn, could affect avian influenza. making it difficult to detect H5N1 cases.