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Farm staff were exposed to milk inflamed with the avian flu virus. But virtually no testing has been done on farms, and health officials know little about who might be inflamed.
By Apoorva Mandavilli, Linda Qiu and Emily Anthes
Even as it becomes increasingly apparent that the bird flu outbreak on the nation’s dairy farms began months earlier (and is likely much more widespread) than previously thought, federal officials are under pressure that the virus poses little threat to humans.
But there is one group of people who are most at risk of infection: the roughly 100,000 men and women who work on those farms. There has been no widespread testing on how many other people might be infected. None of them have been vaccinated or vaccinated against bird flu.
This leaves staff and their families vulnerable to a poorly tracked pathogen. And this poses broader dangers to public health. If the virus reached the entire population, experts believe, it is likely that dairy staff would be a route.
“We don’t know if this virus will evolve into a pandemic strain, but today we do know that farmworkers are exposed, and we have a smart explanation for why they’re getting sick,” said Jennifer Nuzzo, director of the Pandemic. Brown Center College School of Public Health.
The majority of dairy farm staff are Spanish-speaking, undocumented immigrants who are not necessarily paid on days of ill health or are not protected by office protection laws. They may not have access to medical providers, and their employers may not tolerate absences.
“This sector of staff is not only at risk, because they have direct and intimate contact with rejections, raw milk, with inflamed animals, but they are also exposed to the point of threat in terms of the lack of a social safety net. ,” said Elizabeth Strater, an organizer with the United Farm Workers union.
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