The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a health alert Friday informing health centers and the public of a confirmed human case of avian influenza.
According to the CDC, a farm worker at a commercial dairy farm in Texas developed conjunctivitis (commonly known as conjunctivitis) on March 27 and subsequently tested positive for “highly pathogenic avian influenza” (HPAI). He announced that he was out.
HPAI virus has been reported in dairy cattle and wild birds in the Texas region, but prior to this incident, there had been no reports of HPAI transmission from cattle to humans.
The patient did not complain of other symptoms and was not hospitalized. The person has been treated with antiviral drugs and is recovering, and no members of the patient's family are showing symptoms, according to the CDC.
“In the United States, there are no new cases of human infection of HPAI A(H5N1) virus associated with current infections in dairy cattle or birds, and human-to-human transmission of HPAI A(H5N1) virus has not been confirmed. “No,” the CDC said.
The CDC said it tested the patient's viral genome and sequenced cattle, wild birds, and poultry. They found minor changes, but both “lacking changes appropriate for mammalian infection.”
The USDA has confirmed cases in dairy herds in five states: Texas, Kansas, Michigan and New Mexico, and the result in Idaho is “presumptive” positive. The CDC said the spread was likely due to the movement of cattle across state lines.
States such as Nebraska have temporarily restricted cattle imports due to bird flu.
The Texas patient is the second person in the United States to test positive for the disease. The first positive test occurred in Colorado in April 2022 in a patient who had contact with infected poultry.
The CDC said the risk remains low, but recommended that people who have jobs or recreational activities that could expose them to infected birds, cattle or other animals are at high risk and should take precautions. did.
The virus has historically been shown to be deadly, killing more than 50 percent of human victims from 2003 to 2016. The outbreak has affected 82 million birds in 48 states, making it the worst bird flu outbreak in U.S. history.
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