Springfield health officials say H5N1 risk remains low; urge vaccination and precautions amid measles spread

Councilor Santanella, chair of the Springfield City Health and Human Services Committee, and Helen Colton, Springfield’s Commissioner of Health, discussed H5N1 avian influenza and a nationwide measles uptick at a committee meeting; Colton said the immediate public-health risk to Springfield is low but recommended precautions and vaccination as the best available protection.

Colton told the committee that “while the current public health risk remains low, CDC is currently monitoring the situation and working with states to track potential human exposures,” and that the city has so far no known poultry operations and prohibits backyard poultry within Springfield city limits. She said national surveillance has identified about 70 confirmed human H5N1 cases and one reported death in the United States to date, and that the infections reported so far have been linked to animal contact rather than sustained person-to-person spread. “Person to person spread has been none,” she said.

Nut graf: The briefing combined two near-term concerns for local public health: limited human cases of avian influenza linked to animal exposures, and a separate measles outbreak that public-health officials say is spreading in several states.…