The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has announced plans to investigate samples collected from a deadly swine flu infection in Brazil, according to a statement from the World Health Organization (WHO). The investigation began after it was discovered that the deaths were caused by the H1N1 variant circulating in the pig herd.
In various cases, H1N1 swine flu has had occasional spillovers worldwide in individuals who had contact with infected pigs. However, it is unclear how the patient in this particular case became infected with the virus. The deceased was a 42-year-old woman living in the Brazilian state of Paraná who had never had direct contact with pigs.
The woman developed symptoms such as fever, headache, abdominal pain and sore throat on May 1, and was admitted to hospital on May 3 due to severe acute respiratory infection. She was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) the next day, but died on May 5. WHO statement.
Investigators found that two of the patient’s close contacts worked on a nearby pig farm. However, both tested negative for influenza and showed no respiratory symptoms.
“Based on the information currently available, WHO considers this a sporadic case and there is no evidence of human-to-human transmission of the event. The likelihood of community-level human-to-human transmission and/or international human-to-human transmission of the disease is low,” the WHO stated .
Preliminary analysis by Brazilian health authorities confirmed that the virus causing the death was an H1N1 strain closely related to samples previously observed in the region.
“To date, sporadic human infections with influenza A(H1N1)v and influenza A(H1N2)v viruses have been reported in Brazil, with no evidence of sustained human-to-human transmission,” the organization added.
A CDC spokesman said they had not yet received specimens from Brazilian authorities. As one of the WHO Collaborating Centers, CDC plays a vital role in global influenza surveillance. Public health agencies routinely study thousands of sequenced flu viruses collected each year, comparing their genetic makeup to variants that have previously infected animals and humans.
This summer, the Biden administration has been aggressively planning to ramp up efforts to detect cases of the potentially deadly new flu virus spreading to humans. cbs news.
In addition to the escalating threat posed by widespread outbreaks of avian influenza among birds in the Americas, previous years have seen incidents of “novel influenza virus infections” following human-animal interactions at events such as agricultural shows.
Published by Medicaldaily.com