Three human cases of bird flu have been detected in humans in the US amid an outbreak in dairy cattle. Health authorities identified a third human case of bird flu in the US amid an outbreak in dairy cattle. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said this was the second human case of influenza A(H5N1) in the US state of Michigan.
Another human case of bird flu was detected in Texas in April. All three cases concerned dairy workers "with exposure to infected cows, making this another instance of probable cow-to-person spread," the CDC said, with no indication that it has been transmitted between people. The most recent case was the first to have typical influenza symptoms, authorities added.
The other two farm workers had only reported eye symptoms. The risk to the general public is low, the CDC said, but "given the extent of the spread of this virus in dairy cows, additional human cases in people with higher risk exposures would not be surprising". As of this week, there were 67 dairy cattle herds affected in nine US states.
US authorities have been testing dairy and meat samples to ensure the safety of the food supply. In April, some 20 per cent of retail dairy samples were positive for viral fragments of bird flu, but the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said that "additional testing did not detect any live, infectious virus". Results of testing in May showed that pasteurisation was effective in deactivating the virus, the FDA said.
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