How a Dairy Worker Got Infected With Bird Flu

Bird flu, or avian influenza, can be deadly in birds but normally doesn’t infect people. While some strains have caused serious disease and even death in humans, most cause relatively mild symptoms. In the U.S., two people have been known to be infected with avian influenza: one person in 2022, and another earlier this year. In a report published Friday in the New England Journal of Medicine—amid growing concern over infections jumping from birds to cows—health officials from the U.S.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Texas Department of State Health Services provide details on the latest human case. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] According to the report, a dairy farm worker in Texas developed redness and some drainage from his right eye in late March. Because the Texas Animal Health Commission and the U.S. Department of Agriculture had reported at the end of March that bird flu viruses were detected in two Texas and two Kansas dairy farms, veterinarians in the area were alert for symptoms of infection in sick cows and in people. A vet referred the dairy worker for testing at a Texas Department of State Health Services field office, according to a spokesperson for the department. He did not develop any fever or difficulty breathing—which are among the potential symptoms of infection—and his vision remained normal. Dr. Scott Milton, a regional health director for the department, took swabs from the worker&rsq...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized healthscienceclimate Source Type: news