A Michigan farmworker is diagnosed with bird flu in 2nd U.S. case tied to dairy cows

This 2005 electron microscope image shows an avian influenza A H5N1 virion. On Wednesday, Michigan health officials said a farmworker has been diagnosed with bird flu, the second human case connected to an outbreak in U.S.

dairy cows. Cynthia Goldsmith, Jackie Katz/CDC/AP hide caption This 2005 electron microscope image shows an avian influenza A H5N1 virion. On Wednesday, Michigan health officials said a farmworker has been diagnosed with bird flu, the second human case connected to an outbreak in U.

S. dairy cows. NEW YORK — A Michigan dairy worker has been diagnosed with bird flu — the second human case associated with an outbreak in U.

S. dairy cows. The worker had been in contact with cows presumed to be infected, experienced mild eye symptoms and has recovered, U.

S. and Michigan health officials said in announcing the case Wednesday. A nasal swab from the person tested negative for the virus, but an eye swab tested positive, "indicating an eye infection," the U.

S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a statement. The risk to the public remains low, but farmworkers exposed to infected animals are at higher risk, health officials said.

They said those workers should be offered protective equipment, especially for their eyes. The first case happened in late March, when a farmworker in Texas was diagnosed in what officials called the first known instance globally of a person catching this version of bird flu from a mammal. That patient also reported only eye.