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CDC to vaccinate livestock workers for seasonal flu in bird flu campaign

By Jerry Hagstrom, The Hagstrom Report
Shah
Shah
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will spend $5 million to vaccinate livestock workers against the seasonal flu in an effort to prevent possible interaction with bird flu, officials said today, July 30.
If someone gets both the H5N1 (highly pathogenic avian influenza) and seasonal flu, the result could be “an exchange of genetic material” that could do what scientists call “reassortment” and the development of a new influenza virus, said Nirav Shah, the principal deputy director at CDC.
Shah spoke to reporters in a call organized by the Health and Human Services Department.
The $5 million will go to the states, with $3 million devoted to implementation of the program this fall and $2 million for the purchase of the vaccine.
There are about 200,000 official livestock workers in the United States and more who work informally and the CDC hopes to vaccinate half of them, officials said. The vaccinations will be voluntary.
Reaching them in some cases will be difficult, but state officials have said that if the federal government provides the vaccine, they will reach the workers. That may involve going to farms and churches, and Eric Deeble, the Agriculture deputy undersecretary for marketing and regulatory services, will offer additional ideas for reaching the workers, an HHS official said.
State officials have told federal officials that the issue in vaccinating livestock workers is not usually a resistance to getting vaccinated, but a lack of availability of the vaccine, particularly in remote, rural areas. Also, the vaccination of livestock workers for seasonal flu will reduce the pressure on rural hospitals to deliver services.
The campaign will start with the 13 states with bovine and poultry infections. Colorado and Michigan have shown the most cases because officials in those states have done the most testing, officials said.
CDC will also undertake a separate $5 million campaign to educate workers about the importance of biosecurity and the use of protective gear to avoid infection.
The officials confirmed that there are now nine cases of poultry workers in Colorado getting the H5N1 virus, but symptoms are mild, mostly conjunctivitis.
Workers who cull birds are at the highest risk, the officials said. Weld County, Colorado, has been particularly vulnerable because there are so many agricultural operations in the county and they often share equipment, officials said.
Farms that report cattle sick with H5N1 are still allowed to sell milk into the commercial supply, but milk from sick cattle is not allowed, officials said. The milk from the sick cattle is put in manure lagoons, an official added.
Meanwhile, Marion Nestle, professor of food science emerita at New York University, blogged about the continuing popularity of raw milk despite its dangers.
Shah
Shah
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