Officials have been 'preparing for it [in humans] for 20 years.'
Although still confident the risks of avian flu to the human population are low, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention senior official told ABC News they are taking seriouslyPublic health officials have been "working on avian flu and preparing for it for 20 years," the senior CDC official told ABC News. "We've invested in our ability to test for it, to prevent it, to treat it.
The official went on to say that the CDC and the U.S. government were "taking this situation very seriously and closely monitoring it." The federal agency is working with local health departments, state health departments and the U.S. Department of Agriculture and has, over the last two decades, invested in the ability to prevent and treat the disease, the official added.
The official said current tests and treatments still work, and, if needed, there is a capacity to increase manufacturing of Tamiflu, an antiviral medication, millions of doses of which are in the national stockpile. Additionally, vaccines could be developed in an accelerated timeline, the official told ABC News.
While the sick person in Texas was presumed to have been infected by a cow, it remains possible that a bird was also the culprit as both cows and birds were sick and present on the farm, the official said. Local health departments are set to test symptomatic individuals exposed to infected livestock, a CDC spokesperson confirmed.
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