United States: There’s a serious situation happening with the H5N1 bird flu virus in dairy cows. This virus started spreading after last winter’s flu season, which made it easier for health workers to find people who might be infected. But sadly, the virus has continued to spread and has now affected 380 herds of cows in 14 different states.
Now, as cold and flu season is coming, it will be much harder for health departments to keep track of this virus. This situation is a big concern, and it’s important for everyone to stay informed.
As reported by Stat, Hopefully, in the weeks and months to come, when dairy farmworkers or others culling infected poultry flocks develop influenza-like symptoms, what ails them could be a common cold, Covid-19, influenza or a bird flu virus. Identifying a new flu virus before it increases its rate of transmission between humans and then preventing that increase — if at all possible — could be the difference between a near thing and something people do not wish for, another pandemic.
Attempting to do this surveillance at any point during the year as you will discover for yourself is indeed devilishly difficult. Trying to do it during flu season will actually be extra-challenging, other experts say.
It will be much more difficult or harder from there Boris said: It’s going to be more challenging. We’re going to see more flu circulating, more individuals coming down with the virus. The labs are going to have much more to do,” said Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO’s acting director of epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention.
However, Carrie Reed, chief of the epidemiology and prevention branch in the influenza division at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, also said yes, things are going to get worse in the following months.
For what it’s worth, Reed told STAT in a recent interview that it is going to be tougher to distinguish between what is closer to the norm and what is a standout in the fall. “It is going to be something quite different to look at unusual trends in flu activity, particularly during the winter months when there are normally fluctuations in flu activity.”
You may be wondering: Can wastewater testing assist in what is going to be a much more difficult scenario? Conventional elsewhere for detecting the transmission of polio viruses, it is being helpful in tracking the levels of a number of pathogens including SARS-CoV-2, causing Covid-19. And it can measure the H5N1 virus, distinguish it from other flu viruses, said Marlene Wolfe, assistant professor of environmental health at the Emory University.