In a health alert, the agency announced new measures aimed at accelerating the nation’s response to the bird flu outbreak.
Here are five recommendations for clinicians:
1. Ask hospitalized patients with suspected or confirmed influenza about potential exposure to wild and domestic animals, including cats and animal products, or recent contact with a symptomatic person with suspected or confirmed bird flu.
2. Test for seasonal influenza A in hospitalized patients with a suspected case. If the initial diagnostic test does not identify the subtype, order a subtyping test within 24 hours of admission for those who test positive for influenza A.
3. Any hospitalized patients, especially those in an ICU, with suspected seasonal flu or bird flu should receive antiviral treatment with oseltamivir without waiting for flu test results.
4. If bird flu is suspected, probable or confirmed, place the patient in an airborne infection isolation room with negative pressure. All caregivers should have standard, contact and airborne precautions with eye protections.
5. Promptly notify the health department if the virus is suspected, probable or confirmed in a hospitalized patient.
As of Jan. 16, the CDC has confirmed bird flu in 67 people, 928 dairy herds, nearly 11,000 wild birds and about 135 million poultry. A Louisiana resident died in early January, marking the first confirmed human death from bird flu in the U.S.
There is no current evidence that the virus is transmissible among humans, according to infectious disease experts at Boston-based Tufts Medicine and LSU Health New Orleans. Many of the human cases are associated with exposure to infected or sick dairy cows or poultry, and the Louisiana case involved exposure to backyard poultry or wild birds, the CDC said.
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