By Lisa Schnirring
A top official with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today announced a $5 million plan to offer seasonal flu vaccine to livestock workers, mostly to protect their health but also to reduce the chance of human flu viruses mixing with H5N1 avian flu viruses, which would pose a new pandemic flu threat.
The announcement follows a recent flurry of H5 avian flu infections in Colorado poultry cullers and sporadic infections in workers exposed to dairy cows infected with H5N1 and comes ahead of the upcoming flu season.
At a Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) briefing today, Nirav Shah, MD, JD, principal deputy director for the CDC, said more human H5N1 cases are expected, but, so far, the risk remains low, except to workers exposed to sick animals.
He detailed two parts of the program, one to partner with the National Center for Farmworker Health to ramp up training, as well as access to testing, personal protective equipment, and flu shots. The other is $5 million to provide states with seasonal flu vaccine targeted to farm workers.
Health officials estimate that the United States has at least 200,000 livestock workers, with many other people working with animals more informally.
Reassortment concerns as flu season looms
Though Shah said seasonal flu shots won't protect against H5N1, they could protect workers against coinfection with seasonal flu and reduce the chance of virus reassortment, which in theory could produce a new virus that would pose significant public health concerns.
Shah acknowledged that the main role of flu shots is reducing severe disease and death, but he added that, while they don’t eliminate infection, they can reduce the risk.
Though discussions are still under way on use of H5N1 vaccines, he said they aren't recommended yet because there is no person-to-person spread, no changes in the virus, and no evidence of asymptomatic spread. "For now, the seasonal flu shot is the right tool for the job," Shah said.
States will craft their own vaccine plans for livestock workers, and the initial efforts will focus on hard-hit states such as Colorado and Michigan. States have already floated some idea, such as working with local health departments or offering the vaccine at gatherings frequented by livestock workers.
Colorado completes poultry culling
Eric Deeble, DVM, acting senior adviser for highly pathogenic avian flu at the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), said depopulation activities have been completed at two large layer farms in Weld County, Colordao.
He said epidemiologic investigations are still under way into how the B3.13 genotype infecting cattle turned up on the poultry farms, but he noted that the agricultural situation is unique in Weld County. Most of the state's 105 dairy farms are concentrated in the county, and some of the poultry farms and dairy facilities are just a mile or two from each other.
Source : umn.edu