September 9, 2024 – Health officials try to find out how an individual in Missouri contracted H5 bird flu, the newest twist within the worrying latest behavior of the virus that was detected in farm employees, cows and milk earlier this 12 months.
The Missouri case is unusual in two ways: The person was hospitalized and had no known contact with an infected animal. More than a dozen people have tested positive for bird flu thus far this 12 months, but all had mild symptoms equivalent to pink eye (conjunctivitis) or signs of the flu equivalent to a sore throat and runny nose. In addition, all the infected people had contact with poultry or livestock. These cases involved farmworkers in Colorado, Michigan and Texas.
Missouri Health Authorities reported that the person had one other illness and was hospitalized on August 22, was treated with an antiviral flu medication, and has now recovered. Follow-up examinations by the CDC confirms the diagnosis, and the agency is conducting further tests to learn more in regards to the specific strain.
Missouri health officials are still investigating how the person could have come into contact with bird flu. Bird flu has not yet been detected in cattle in Missouri, but this 12 months it has been detected in poultry in business and personal poultry flocks. Close contacts of the Missouri patient have shown no signs of the virus. It's possible the infection was brought on by close contact with an infected migratory bird, says Dr. Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy on the University of Minnesota. told USA Today.
This is the primary case of bird flu detected by the national flu surveillance system, which extensively tests flu samples from various health centers, equivalent to health departments and emergency rooms, to supply detailed details about virus strains. The other human cases of bird flu were detected this 12 months as a part of a human testing program linked to animal outbreaks.
There is currently no evidence of human-to-human transmission of bird flu, and health authorities proceed to imagine that the chance of bird flu infecting humans is low. The FDA said that the business milk supply was protected because tests on pasteurized milk products had found only non-viable signs of the virus.