A new study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that some dairy farm employees showed signs of infection, even when they didn’t report feeling sick.
The CDC concluded that more bird flu testing of dairy farm employees is required.
The purpose of these actions is to keep workers safe, to limit the transmission of H5N1 to humans and to reduce the possibility of the virus changing.
The new CDC study provides the largest window to date into how the bird virus detected last March in dairy cows may be spreading to people.
The study suggests the virus has infected more humans than the 46 farmworkers currently identified in the U.S. including dairy employees in California.
Nearly all were in contact with infected dairy cows or infected poultry.
The scientific community considers every additional infection in animals or humans a chance for the virus to change in potentially dangerous ways.
