Cows are seen standing in a feedlot on June 14, 2023 in Quemado, Texas. Brandon Bell | Getty Images U.S.
health officials are monitoring and preparing to combat bird flu in humans, even as they stress that the risk to the general public remains low . A strain of bird flu called H5N1 has been confirmed in dairy cows across nine U.S.
states, along with two people , amid an ongoing global outbreak among poultry and other animals. The latest case was announced Wednesday in a dairy farm worker from Michigan. An Australian child was also recently infected with bird flu, the country announced on Tuesday.
H5N1 has been spreading among more animal species worldwide since 2020, but its detection in U.S. livestock earlier this year was a twist health officials did not expect.
In rare cases, bird flu viruses spread to humans and can cause mild to severe symptoms that can require hospitalization. There is currently no evidence that H5N1 is spreading from person to person. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has also said the risk of infection is higher among farmworkers than the general population.
Still, the U.S. government, along with state and local health departments, are monitoring new and emerging infections among humans and animals.
Federal agencies in the U.S. and elsewhere have also tracked the H5N1 virus for years to monitor its evolution.
The U.S. government has long stockpiled vaccines and drugs to be used in a possible bird flu pandemic.
Last week, it started the p.
