Two chickens at a dwell animal market in San Francisco examined constructive for hen flu final month, whereas traces of it have been detected within the metropolis’s wastewater.The San Francisco Division of Public Well being mentioned the California Division of Agriculture discovered the H5N1 virus throughout routine testing, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. San Francisco is the one metropolis in California to have a constructive detection of H5N1 in wastewater to date.Learn extra: Examine Tax-Advantaged Well being Financial savings AccountsThe H5N1 virus has been spreading amongst extra animal species since 2020, together with in dairy herds in 9 states since late March, in accordance with the U.S. Division of Agriculture. Final month, the USDA introduced it had been present in alpacas for the primary time. Weeks earlier, the nation’s greatest egg producer discovered the virus in its chickens.Workers of the market who had been in shut contact with the rooster have been monitored and did not report any signs after 10 days, mentioned the Chronicle. The general public was not uncovered, and the market within the Bayview neighborhood has since reopened.”Crucial factor to notice is there isn’t any menace to public well being presently,” Dr. George Han, the division’s Director of Communicable Illness Prevention & Management, mentioned in an announcement to the newspaper. “There have been no human circumstances.”Newsweek reached out to the San Francisco Division of Public Well being by way of e mail for remark.
Roosters roaming on a farm in Austin, Texas, on January 23, 2023. Authorities in California mentioned two chickens at a dwell animal market in San Francisco examined constructive for hen flu in Might.
Roosters roaming on a farm in Austin, Texas, on January 23, 2023. Authorities in California mentioned two chickens at a dwell animal market in San Francisco examined constructive for hen flu in Might.
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After the virus was detected on the San Francisco market, WastewaterSCAN, a nationwide initiative monitoring infectious illnesses in municipal wastewater methods, started testing town’s wastewater. Preliminary testing detected fragments of H5 genetic materials, the Chronicle reported.Learn extra: What Is a Well being Financial savings Account?Three human circumstances of hen flu linked to dairy cows have been confirmed in the US this yr. In March, a farmworker in Texas was identified with the virus, adopted by two Michigan farmworkers in Might.Nonetheless, the U.S. Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention mentioned that the present public well being threat is low and that there isn’t any indication that hen flu is passing from individual to individual.In late Might, the CDC mentioned the newest human case “underscores the significance of really helpful precautions in individuals with publicity to contaminated or probably contaminated animals.””Individuals with shut or extended, unprotected exposures to contaminated birds or different animals (together with livestock), or to environments contaminated by contaminated birds or different contaminated animals, are at higher threat of an infection and may take precautions,” the company mentioned in an announcement.
Unusual KnowledgeNewsweek is dedicated to difficult typical knowledge and discovering connections within the seek for widespread floor.Newsweek is dedicated to difficult typical knowledge and discovering connections within the seek for widespread floor.