#18,463
The CDC has updated their H5N1 case count this afternoon after California reported their 32nd case, bringing the CDC's total to 58 confirmed cases since last March. This number, however, has a large number of asterisks attached.
It does not include 4 cases confirmed by state labs but not by the CDC, nor does it include the 2nd, strongly suspected case in Missouri, or the 8 asymptomatic and/or mild cases retrospectively identified by serological testing.
When you add in the anecdotal reports of symptomatic farm workers who were never tested - and the MMWR report (see Serologic Evidence of Recent Infection with HPAI A(H5) Virus Among Dairy Workers) which found 7% of exposed dairy farm workers in Michigan and Colorado had serologic evidence of infection with HPAI A(H5) - the actual numbers are likely to be far higher.
The USDA has also updated their number of infected dairy herds across the country, crossing the 700 mark nationally, and with 493 (70%) of those from California. Given the lack of nationwide mandatory testing, the actual number is thought to be much higher as well.
Only a handful of states (Arkansas, Colorado, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Oklahoma) have elected to order mandatory bulk milk testing for the H5 virus. Due to a `Don't test, don't tell' policy in many states, the real extent of the spread of H5N1 in livestock is unknown.
The USDA has also released the last update for poultry outbreaks during the month of November, and that month closed out with nearly a 100-fold increase in poultry losses over last September.
