Measles is still slowly ticking up, with a few hotspots to keep an eye out for. Overall, we’re at over 1500 cases in the U.S., the highest in over 30 years.
The Utah-Arizona border is the biggest outbreak right now, with over 100 confirmed cases split between the two states (44 in Utah, 59 in Arizona) and still rising.
Other smaller outbreaks have been reported. Most notably, there are 150 unvaccinated school children in South Carolina that are under a 21 day quarantine because they were exposed. The state only has 8 confirmed cases, but that number may be low; the SC Department of Public Health acknowledged that “there is active, unrecognized community transmission of measles occurring."
In addition to these outbreaks, we’re seeing one-off travel related cases across the country, at a pace of about 25 new confirmed cases per week right now. Canada’s measles situation is even worse, with over 5,000 cases. Unless something changes, they’re on track to lose their measles elimination status later this month.
In short, there is still a lot of measles out there. For most of your employees, this isn’t a major concern, since the majority of American adults are vaccinated. But for anyone who isn’t vaccinated, or for those with newborns who are too young to be vaccinated, this is of higher concern. Be prepared to have an employee with measles sometime in the next year. Prep your talking points, check out the action plan in the ZHH App, and don’t hesitate to call us if you need support.
Sources: YLE, CDC, Globe and Mail
Yes! Hunters are at “high risk” for exposure to H5N1 avian flu if they handle wild birds.
One CDC study of hunting dogs in 2023 found that 2% (4 out of 194 dogs) tested positive for H5N1 after the hunting season. The good news for dog-lovers is that bird flu isn’t very good at infecting dogs (unlike cats, where it’s very easily transmitted and often fatal). Still, this shows that wild bird hunters and their dogs are being exposed to the virus here in the U.S.
Hunters should not handle or harvest wild birds that are obviously sick or already found dead. They should avoid eating and drinking anything while handling game, and wash their hands thoroughly after. PPE helps, too, especially when dressing game: wear gloves and, ideally, an N95 mask, too.
For employers, don’t worry too much. The risk of a human getting H5N1 is low, and there hasn’t been any evidence of human-to-human transmission. If an employee hunts wild birds and displays symptoms of avian flu, including flu-like symptoms or pink eye, instruct them to call their doctor and stay home until they’re 100% symptom-free.
This profile of four infectious disease experts who were working to prevent future pandemics before they were fired is a really good way to put some faces to public health. It highlights one of our concerns, looking forward, that these cuts will cause issues a few years down the road when we remove the safeguards we’ve had in place that actually do prevent outbreaks on a regular basis.