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The CDC announced more than a week ago that they had taken blood samples from five healthcare workers and one household contact of the Missouri bird flu patient in an effort to determine if they have antibodies to H5N1. Since it was too late to test all but one health worker for flu by the time their symptoms were reported, antibody testing is the best way to determine if there was any human-to-human transmission in this case (the one healthcare worker tested was negative for flu). But there’s a catch: the Missouri patient’s H5N1 virus has mutated in a small but important way on its main protein, which means the existing tests might not give accurate results. So CDC is working on making a brand new test, which was even more complicated because the Missouri patient had so little viral material that they had to actually reverse engineer H5N1 virus strains to then use to develop the new test. What does it all mean? Dr. Mike Osterholm from CIDRAP feels that it’s more likely that these other cases will turn out to be “normal” non-H5N1 respiratory illnesses and that H5N1 “will never climb over that bar to sustain human transmission.” We’re hopeful that that’s the case and glad to have CDC show a bit of their work on why this one is taking so long to get answers. In Mike’s words, “We are all just going to have to wait and see.”
Sources: STAT, Osterholm Update
There are two main vaccinations that your team might consider to help protect employees before a major climate disaster like a hurricane: Hepatitis A and tetanus. In both cases, flooding doesn’t actually increase the risk for either disease, though it does mean that any wounds (which are more common after disasters) are likely to be contaminated. Anyone who has had a tetanus booster (TdP or TdaP included) is protected for up to 10 years, and Hep A is generally just a two-dose vaccination to protect for life. In light of the limited risk, a mass vaccination campaign is not likely necessary in advance of a storm, but checking to see if your employees are up to date on their vaccinations and offering vouchers or vaccination campaigns to those who are out of date would be a great proactive approach.
ZHH can support employee vaccination tracking, as well as pharmacy vouchers or on-site vaccination campaigns if your team needs support. Just reply here or chat in the app for more info!
After any disaster, we reach for this CDC guide to food safety after power outages to share with teams and employees. For similar info and an even more exhaustive list of foods, you can check out the CDC’s site and this 2-pager from USDA.
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