Marin County health officials are investigating whether the child may have been infected with H5N1 avian influenza.
Officials began an investigation last week and are working with the California Department of Public Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to determine how the child became infected.
This information was provided in Friday’s “Health Update” newsletter, at the end of a paragraph about county and state virus surveillance, raw milk, and a note about the USDA’s new program for nationwide milk testing. embedded.
If confirmed, it would be the second case of the virus in a child in California.
“It is extremely concerning that another child may have been infected with H5N1. We need to know more about the cases,” said Jennifer Nuzzo, director of the Brown University Pandemic Center in Providence, Rhode Island. In the last case where H5N1 infection was diagnosed in a child with no known animal contact, a more extensive study including serological studies was performed to determine if there was evidence of other infections in the area. It might be wise to do some research. ”
Last month, state health officials announced that one child in Alameda County had tested positive for the disease. Investigators have not been able to determine the source of the exposure. The child had mild respiratory symptoms, but no one in the child’s family or nursery school was infected.
State and county public health officials did not respond to inquiries from the Times, and the newsletter provided no further information.
If confirmed, this would be the 61st case of avian influenza this year. On Friday, two cases were announced in Arizona, both involving dairy farm workers.
This is the third case in the United States this year where the source of exposure is unknown. In addition to the Alameda County child case, another person in Missouri has been infected with an unknown source of infection.
Outside the United States, a Canadian teenager also contracted the virus from an unknown source and has remained in critical condition for three weeks with severe symptoms.
Most human cases in the United States have been linked to dairy and poultry workers who became infected in areas where the virus is known to exist.
So far, most cases of H5N1 avian influenza have been mild, with conjunctivitis, conjunctivitis, or mild upper respiratory symptoms.
Researchers will need to evaluate the genetic sequence of the virus to determine whether it comes from dairy products or birds.
Wastewater samples collected by WastewaterScan (led by researchers at Stanford University and Emory University, in collaboration with clinical testing partner Verily, the life sciences organization of Alphabet Inc.) show that the virus is in the environment, including the Marin County facility. It is located in San Rafael and Novato, where it has shown a widespread presence.
Over the past two weeks, state health and agriculture officials have halted sales and recalled infected raw milk from grocery store shelves across the state.
There are no known outbreaks associated with the raw milk, and it is unknown whether people can become infected with the disease by consuming the raw milk in the milk.
However, some mammals, including cats and rats, have shown severe illness or death after consuming raw milk.
Mark McAfee, the owner of the infected Raw Farm LLC, told the Times last week that he believed the milk had been given to 90,000 customers.
When asked how he came up with this number, he said: We have 500 stores and this is our best guess based on the amount per checkout. ”
The state Department of Health and Agriculture could not confirm that number.
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