According to Vanguard, US officials confirmed on Wednesday the fourth human case of bird flu associated with the current outbreak in dairy cattle. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the affected individual, who worked on a farm in Colorado, contracted the virus after exposure to infected cows.
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Unlike previous cases, this person only experienced eye symptoms, received prompt antiviral treatment, and has since recovered, the CDC stated. They reiterated that the risk to the general population remains low.
The initial US case was reported in Texas in early April, followed by two additional cases in Michigan. The outbreak, first detected in March, has affected numerous cattle herds across several states.
While experts express concern over the increasing number of mammalian infections, they emphasize that human cases remain rare. There is a heightened fear among experts that continued circulation of the virus in animal populations could potentially lead to mutations enabling human-to-human transmission.
Recent tests have confirmed that mice can contract the disease through exposure to raw milk contaminated with bird flu, although pasteurization effectively destroys the virus. Additionally, bird flu has been detected in farm-raised alpacas in Idaho, underscoring the broad impact of the outbreak across different livestock species in the US.