Wisconsin. He was 75. In public health news is bird flu or
highly pathogenic avian influenza high risk for
livestock and poultry flocks? But low risk for humans and
could that change? For the latest on the status of bird flu
outbreaks in Wisconsin, we turn to Tom Haupt influenza research
scientist at the Wisconsin Department of Health Services.
And thanks very much for being here.
>> Thank you. Frederica. I appreciate the invitation.
>> What is the current status of bird flu outbreaks in Wisconsin?
>> Well, we've had approximately 4 or 5 commercial outbreaks and
one backyard flop as far as human cases. We have had only
the one human case that person has made a complete recovery.
Thank goodness. As far as other testing, we have tested about 3
or 4 other people. All have come back negative, but we continue
to monitor very closely in conjunction with the Department
of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection and the DNR
to monitor all kinds of wildlife, any kind of flocks. We
have had no cattle, dairy farms in Wisconsin that have been
infected so far. We're hoping it stays that way.
>> Could there be more human cases out there that people just
haven't been tested? Or they think they've got a cold or, you
know, what are the concerns about that?
>> That definitely could be the case. And especially now when
influenza has started to spike the way it has been over the
past couple of weeks. And we've over doubled, doubled our number
of cases for seasonal influenza over the past few weeks. So
there could be some people who probably should be tested, but
are not being tested. But we really are trying to be very
conservative on this and make sure that we try to capture
everybody who may have had exposure. Make sure that they
are tested for flu. >> Speaking of flu and seasonal
influenza, I understand that the CDC provided flu vaccines to 12
states that also were affected by bird flu. To prevent this
kind of co-infection of both the human flu and the bird flu, that
could lead to kind of emerging variants of that, that could be
a more transmissible. Why didn't Wisconsin participate in that?
CDC vaccine program? >> It actually was not the
Wisconsin's decision. There was like six initial states that
were categorized to get it. At first. We're hoping to be part
of the second or third round to get this vaccine from the CDC.
But again, it was not in our hands.
>> How worrisome is it from a public health standpoint that
co-infection of these two different influenzas, anytime
you have co-infections, it's always a concern, whether it's
with avian influenza and seasonal influenza, Covid, RSV,
whatever the case may be, the more pathogens that actually are
infecting a person, the more severe the outcome could be and
which could lead to hospitalization and
unfortunately, deaths. to prevent making sure we're
getting people tested in a timely manner at a proper
laboratory, which now is the Wisconsin State Laboratory of
Hygiene, to get that information and to get those tests run as
quickly as possible. But yes, it definitely could be a concern.
>> What's the best advice for people as we head into the peak
of the seasonal flu season here in the midst of this kind of
avian influenza outbreak? >> Well, we need to control what
we can control. And that's two things. One is to get the
vaccine for influenza. Our numbers are a little bit low.
They're about 30.7%, which is just a couple of percentage
points lower than what it was last year, which is a bit
disappointing, to be honest with you. We need to do a better job
because we are optimistic that the vaccine is going to be
effective in preventing severe illness and in many cases, it
will be effective in preventing illness altogether. The other
thing is to practice good hygiene, coughing into your
sleeve, sneezing into a tissue, throwing it away right away,
washing your hands and above all, if people do get sick, stay
home and give yourself the time to heal. Too many people think
it's just the allergies. Or as you said, just a minor cold.
They could be infecting someone who could be at high risk, and
that person could actually result in becoming hospitalized.
And hopefully and not. And really, hopefully it's not that
it won't result in any kind of fatalities.
what should people be looking for to see whether or not that
might be what they have? >> Yeah, it's very hard to say
at this point. One thing that we do definitely look at, at the
state is do you have an exposure, do you have an
exposure to any kind of birds that are with a die off, whether
it be wild birds, poultry, anything like that? Do they work
on a farm? You know, on a dairy farm where maybe the cows are
not producing the milk the way they're supposed to be doing, or
there the milk is very unusual. I mean, those are the people who
come down with symptoms where we really want them to consider
testing, calling the local or state health departments. We can
arrange for testing to be done as quickly as possible, but the
symptoms that could be very vague. I mean, it could be just
conjunctivitis. It could be just an upper respiratory mild upper
respiratory illness. It really not a precise symptomology when
you're dealing with HpaI. Had with an influenza.
>> Well, I know you will be watching this on all of our
Behalves. Tom Haupt, thank you very much.