A health alert has been issued by the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), warning that five cases of human infection have been reported of flu variants normally spread only in pigs.
Cases were detected in West Virginia, Oregon, and Ohio, and all of the people have since recovered, reports MedPage Today. Four of the infections were linked to exposure to pigs or involved patients who had attended an agricultural fair before they got sick. One person, however, reported no previous contact with pigs and did not attend an agricultural fair.
“No person-to-person spread associated with the five infections has been identified,” the agency said.
Three of the cases involved the A(H3N2) variant and two involved an influenza A(H1N2) variant. The patients suffered symptoms similar to seasonal flu, including fever, cough, pharyngitis, myalgia and headache, and none was hospitalised.
Including these new cases, 504 swine-related flu infections have been detected since the agency starting tracking the flu variants in 2005.
Medical professionals should ask patients who present with flu if they have had exposure to pigs, CDC advised: “Novel influenza A virus infections, which include those caused by variant influenza viruses, are notifiable conditions in the United States, and all confirmed cases should be reported to CDC within 24 hours.”
Medical personnel are urged to take a nasopharyngeal swab or aspirate from the patient and request a diagnosis from a health laboratory.
Hospitalised patients, those with severe illness, or with a high risk of influenza complications, can be treated with antiviral medication, with treatment initiation recommended within 48 hours of symptom onset, the CDC said.
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