Texas patient diagnosed with bird flu after coming into contact with cows – health officials

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From the Associated Press

ATLANTA — Health officials announced Monday that a person in Texas has been diagnosed with bird flu. This infectious disease is associated with the recent discovery of a virus in dairy cows.

Texas health officials said the patient was being treated with antiviral drugs and the only symptom reported was red eyes.

Health officials said the person had been in contact with cattle that were presumed to be infected and the risk to the public remains low.

Last week, dairy cows in Texas and Kansas were reported to be infected with avian influenza, after which federal agriculture officials confirmed the infection in a dairy herd in Michigan that recently received cattle from Texas.

This virus has been discovered in hundreds of mammalian species around the world in recent years.

This bird flu was first recognized as a threat to people when it broke out in Hong Kong in 1997. According to the World Health Organization, more than 460 people have died from avian influenza infections in the past 20 years.

The majority of cases were contracted directly from birds, but scientists are on the lookout for signs of the disease spreading to humans.

This is the second time in the United States that a person has been diagnosed with the so-called H5N1 virus. In 2022, a prison inmate in a work program was infected while slaughtering infected birds at a chicken farm in Montrose County, Colorado. His only symptom was fatigue and he recovered.

Texas officials have not identified the new cases or provided details about how they came into contact with the cow.