Rare human case of highly contagious H5N1 bird flu confirmed in Texas

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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention introduced Monday that an individual in Texas has examined optimistic for highly pathogenic avian influenza, in any other case generally known as H5N1 bird flu.

“This person had exposure to dairy cattle in Texas presumed to be infected with HPAI A(H5N1) viruses. The patient reported eye redness (consistent with conjunctivitis), as their only symptom, and is recovering,” the CDC stated in an announcement. “The patient was told to isolate and is being treated with an antiviral drug for flu.”

The CDC stated that is the second case of a human testing optimistic for H5N1 in the United States, after a earlier case was noticed in Colorado in 2022.

“This infection does not change the H5N1 bird flu human health risk assessment for the U.S. general public, which CDC considers to be low,” it added. “However, people with close or prolonged, unprotected exposures to infected birds or other animals (including livestock), or to environments contaminated by infected birds or other animals, are at greater risk of infection.”

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Cows

Dairy cattle feed at a farm in March 2017 close to Vado, New Mexico. The U.S. Department of Agriculture stated Monday that milk from dairy cows in Texas and Kansas has examined optimistic for bird flu.

Last week, dairy cows in Texas and Kansas had been reported to be contaminated with bird flu – and federal agriculture officers later confirmed infections in a Michigan dairy herd that had lately obtained cows from Texas.

This bird flu was first recognized as a menace to individuals throughout a 1997 outbreak in Hong Kong, in line with The Associated Press. More than 460 individuals have died in the previous twenty years from bird flu infections, the World Health Organization says.

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Eggs cleaned at farm

Eggs are cleaned and disinfected on the Sunrise Farms processing plant in Petaluma, California, on Jan. 11, 2024, which had seen an outbreak of avian flu.  (AP/Terry Chea)

Texas officers didn’t determine the newly contaminated particular person, nor launch any particulars about what introduced them in contact with the cows.

The CDC stated it’s “working with state health departments to continue to monitor workers who may have been in contact with infected or potentially infected birds/animals and test those people who develop symptoms.” 

Bird flu sample

A researcher wears a protecting go well with whereas gathering samples of wildlife, the place the H5N1 bird flu virus was detected, at Chilean Antarctic territory in Antarctica, in this undated handout photograph obtained by Reuters on March 13. (Reuters/Instituto Antartico Chileno)

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“Human illnesses with H5N1 bird flu have ranged from mild (e.g., eye infection, upper respiratory symptoms) to severe illness (e.g., pneumonia) that have resulted in death in other countries,” it additionally stated.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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