A person in Texas has been diagnosed with the highly virulent bird flu. This is the first case since the virus was detected in several dairy cows in several states across the country last week.
The Texas Department of State Health Services said in a statement Monday that the infected person worked at a dairy farm where some cows last week tested positive for H5N1 avian influenza, which is considered highly pathogenic or highly contagious. announced. The patient's main symptom was conjunctivitis.
Texas Department of Agriculture Secretary Sid Miller said it is not yet clear whether the person contracted the infection from the dairy cow or from the same source as the dairy cow, which appeared to be a dead waterfowl found on the property.
Regardless of the source, Miller said the public need not worry.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a similar statement on Monday, saying, “This infection does not change the general human health risk assessment of H5N1 avian influenza in the United States, which CDC considers to be low.” said.
This particular type of bird flu rarely infects humans, but it is fatal in more than 50% of cases, according to the CDC. A 21-year-old man in Vietnam died on March 23 after contracting the virus, according to an announcement from Vietnam's Ministry of Health.
The Texas case is the second person infected with this strain of avian influenza ever detected in the United States. The first case was confirmed in 2022. The Colorado man is a state prison inmate who was exposed to the virus while working at a chicken farm. Part of the pre-release employment program. The man's only symptom was fatigue. He was treated with antiviral drugs and recovered, the CDC report said.
The United States has also reported four cases of human infection with less virulent avian influenza. The CDC says other parts of the world are seeing more cases of both types of viruses infecting people.
The highly deadly virus spreads quickly among birds, including domestic chickens, but even more rapidly among non-avian species such as polar bears, foxes and marine mammals.
Last week, the first cases of the H5N1 strain in dairy cows were detected in Idaho, Kansas, Michigan, New Mexico and Texas. These cases occurred days after goats on a Minnesota farm tested positive for the virus, but Miller said the cases don't appear to be spreading rapidly and the cattle cases are comparable. He pointed out that it was isolated.
Dr. Jeff Bender, a public health professor and public health veterinarian at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, said more outbreaks are likely to occur in other animals as birds make their spring migration.
“That's what's causing what we're seeing in the cows. These birds are on their spring migration, so they could be shedding the virus,” Bender said, adding that the birds feces could contaminate water sources for animals.
The CDC said in a statement last week that while livestock workers are at high risk of infection, it believes the virus poses a low health risk to the U.S. public. The agency also advised against eating unpasteurized dairy products, such as raw milk and cheese, taken from animals suspected or confirmed to have avian influenza.
“Commercial milk and meat are safe,” Bender said.
Texas Secretary of State Miller said milk from infected cows is not in the food supply.
If that were the case, “the high heat of pasteurization and cooking would kill the virus,” Bender said.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture said it does not expect the bovine avian influenza cases to impact food safety or supply in the United States, according to a CDC statement.
“The price of milk and dairy products should not go up,” Miller said.
At this time, the H5N1 strain does not appear to be airborne and the virus does not appear to have mutated to spread among cattle, which is important, Bender said.
“This is something that needs to be monitored in the early stages,” he said. “We know how influenza changes. What we need to know is whether there is cow-to-cow transmission. That tells us the virus is adapting. That means there is more potential for the virus to change.”
Some of these changes could make the virus more capable of infecting people or being transmitted from person to person.
“We need that information so we can respond to new pandemics if necessary,” Bender said.
If the virus started infecting pigs, that would be a cause for concern, he added.
“Pigs have the ability to mix influenza viruses, and because they are closer to humans, they would be more likely to infect humans,” he said.
The CDC says it only has a small stockpile of avian influenza vaccine available to deploy if the virus begins to spread from person to person, and existing antiviral drugs such as Tamiflu can be used to treat avian influenza in humans.
“People don't need to panic,” Miller said. “We're still in the early stages of understanding it, but we're reaching the pinnacle.”
