Minnesotans in contact with avian flu birds getting preventative drugs

[Pathfinder]

Thu Apr 23, 2015 10:06pm BST

UPDATE 1-Minnesotans in contact with avian flu birds getting preventative drugs

(Adds details from state health department, background)

By P.J. Huffstutter

(Reuters) -...

State health officials also said the state has been expediting prescriptions for the antiviral drug Tamiflu, for farm workers and others who have been in direct contact with infected flocks in Minnesota.

No person has been infected with the highly pathogenic H5N2 strain of bird flu that has been identified on 44 Minnesota farms in 15 counties, and affected nearly 2.6 million birds in the state.

Michael Schommer, spokesman for the Minnesota Department of Health, said the agency has approached 140 farm workers and others in the state who had been in direct contact with infected birds.

Of those, 87 people were advised to take the Roche antiviral medication as a preventative measure. Seventy of them have done so, Schommer said.

Of the 62 people that state health officials have followed up with so far, none of them have been infected by the virus, Schommer said.
...

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2015/04/23/health-birdflu-usa-idUKL1N0XK3FP20150423

[sharon sanders]

Interesting that the Minnesota Department of Health would take this action with no recorded human cases in North America. Also, Dr, Fry of the CDC said yesterday that their researchers are not seeing the genetic markers for human severity or transmission. link

[Emily]

Posted: Apr 23, 2015 12:58 PM PST Updated: Apr 23, 2015 2:42 PM PST by Mike Durkin Workers exposed to turkeys taking Tamiflu
State epidemiologist Kris Ehresmann said 70 agricultural workers exposed to infected turkeys are taking Tamiflu as a precaution. Ten workers have developed minor symptoms, but none have tested positive for influenza. Ehresmann said they are monitoring a total of 140 workers who have worked with infected turkeys...

http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/story...d-in-minnesota

[AnnaLisa]

Does Tamiflu affect seropositivity or are they checking by PCR? My chickens and turkeys were swabbed and they did PCR testing. Any idea what tests they are doing on the workers? I assume these were workers exposed prior to the discovery of AI in the flock?

[Emily]

Here's a study that AnnaLisa noticed that gives an indication that Tamiflu could make it difficult to read sera tests:

https://flutrackers.com/forum/forum/...=1430120529561

And here is another study that shows that antibody tests may not be reliable at all in detecting human infections by avian flu:

http://www.cmaj.ca/content/176/1/47.abstract

Protective measures and human antibody response during an avian influenza H7N3 outbreak in poultry in British Columbia, Canada
...
Localized human avian influenza infections may not result in serologic response despite confirmed viral detection and culture.

So far, I have not seen the type of testing being done in MN reported.

[Pathfinder]

US | Mon Apr 27, 2015 9:21am EDT Related: U.S., HEALTH

Increased human protections offered as H5N2 outbreak spreads

CHICAGO | BY P.J. HUFFSTUTTER AND JULIE STEENHUYSEN

(Reuters) - ...

Concerns about human health risk have prompted investigators to ramp up biosecurity measures on infected farms, with some government staff overseeing the culling of birds wearing full protective body suits and ventilators.

At the same time, the CDC is also working through legal issues related to releasing the government?s stockpile of Roche's antiviral drug Tamiflu to be used for this outbreak, agency officials said.

An estimated 300 people in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa and South Dakota have been told they should take the drug as a precaution, public health officials told Reuters, but fewer than half of them have begun doing so.

In South Dakota, all of the infected turkey flocks have been on farms owned by Hutterites, members of a Christian sect that lives and farms collectively, and more than 100 workers there have declined the medical treatment, state officials said.

Elsewhere, workers refusing the drug have said that they do not feel they are at high risk or want to wait to see if they actually get the virus before taking medication, agency officials say.
...
Sara Vetter of Minnesota?s Infectious Disease Laboratory said her lab has tested 11 individuals who have developed cold symptoms to see if they might be related to avian flu. None has yet tested positive.
...

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/04/27/us-health-birdflu-biosecurity-insight-idUSKBN0NI0AU20150427