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.”
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