The extreme heat that has gripped much of the US may have contributed to a spike in bird flu cases.
Photograph: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Luke 21:11 There will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences. And there will be terrors and great signs from heaven.
Important Takeaways:
- A heatwave in Colorado likely caused personal protective equipment not to work correctly for workers culling poultry infected with H5N1, a highly pathogenic bird flu.
- Four people have tested positive for H5N1 and a fifth is also expected to have their case confirmed as bird flu, officials said this week.
- It’s the first time a cluster of human cases of bird flu has been reported in the US.
- In Colorado, the workers were culling a flock of egg-laying chickens that had tested positive for H5N1.
- And it can be dangerous to work in such close and prolonged quarters with animals infected with bird flu, which has a mortality rate of about 50% among people.
- It was 104F (40C) outside, but in the chicken houses, it was even hotter.
- “Across all areas, governments need to actively and urgently incorporate climate considerations into all health and safety measures more than simply at the surface level.”
Read the original article by clicking here.
