Bird flu cases among farmworkers going undetected: study

A study posted online on Wednesday suggested that there are more farmworkers infected with bird flu than what has been reported.

“I am very confident there are more people being infected than we know about. Largely, that’s because our surveillance has been so poor.” Gregory Gray, an infectious disease researcher at the University of Texas Medical Branch who led the study, told National Public Radio in the United States.

The study, which is currently under review to be published in an infectious disease journal, examined farmworkers who may have been infected with bird flu but were undiagnosed and later recovered. In total, 14 blood samples were taken from workers at two Texas dairy farms that had outbreaks earlier this year. Out of those samples, two had shown antibodies. One had already been taking medication for a lingering cough and the other recently recovered from a respiratory illness, adding that her coworkers also got sick too.

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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warned that if people were infected with seasonal influenza and the bird flu at the same time, the two viruses could combine to create a strain more contagious towards humans.

The World Health Organization (WHO) announced on Monday a plan to accelerate the development of bird flu vaccines in developing nations using mRNA technology.

Sinergium Biotech, a manufacturer in Argentina, will be tasked with leading the effort and has already started developing vaccines against the H5N1 strain.

Once preclinical data is complete, technology, materials and expertise will be shared with other manufacturers in low- to middle-income countries, which will allow them to accelerate vaccine development and production. Two of the manufacturers involved are Biovac in South Africa and Institut Pasteur in Senegal.

The CDC reported four human cases of bird flu since April 1 following exposure to dairy cows, and 10 more since 2022 after exposure to poultry. Out of the 14 cases, six were confirmed to be caused from the H5N1 strain.