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From: RonO <rokimoto557@gmail.com>
Newsgroups: talk.origins
Subject: Two more California dairy workers confirmed to be infected by dairy
 influenza
Date: Wed, 23 Oct 2024 16:17:19 -0500
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https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/avian-influenza-bird-flu/avian-flu-infects-2-more-dairy-workers-californias-central-valley

California is reporting that the CDC has confirmed 2 more dairy worker 
infections, so they aren't releasing information on new cases until 
confirmed by the CDC.  More cases have been reported in the news, but 
they may not have been confirmed by the CDC at this time.

California must have a very high rate of confirming suspected dairy 
worker infections in testing symptomatic dairy workers.  The CDC never 
started such testing, so it is no surprise that they never knew what the 
actual rate of infection has likely been for a very long time.  The 
positives are only from symptomatic workers.  We still do not know the 
actual infection rate.

This article also states that the CDC has contracted Quest Diagnostics 
to test samples coming from human subjects for the dairy influenza.  The 
test is specific for the H5N1 virus.  In light of the mutations being 
identified in California and Missouri among human patients, the CDC 
should start evaluating the current test to make sure that the mutations 
are not compromising detection.  The test works, but that doesn't mean 
that it works as well as it was first designed to work back in March.

In all other states they should be running antibody screening for 
workers that had worked with known infected cattle, so that we can get 
an idea of how bad things have always been.  The previous antibody 
testing of dairy workers in Michigan tested 39 individuals, but they 
were selected because they had not shown symptoms after being exposed to 
the infected cattle, and they did they test the known positive control 
of the individual that had tested positive (was shedding virus).  As sad 
as it may seem that study was designed to not identify past infected 
workers.  A smaller Texas study that tested 14 individuals that had 
shown some influenza like symptoms found 2 antibody positive dairy 
workers.  One of the positive individuals had not worked with cattle 
(they worked in the farm cafeteria) and was a possible human to human 
infection because the other positive worker worked on the same farm, but 
the CDC never considers that study, nor do they have designated them 
possible infected humans.

Ron Okimoto