Four poultry workers in Colorado have been diagnosed with bird flu, health officials confirmed Sunday.
The new cases bring the U.S. total to nine since the first human case of the current outbreak was detected in 2022, also in a Colorado poultry worker. Eight of nine were reported this year.
Their illnesses were relatively mild – red, irritated eyes and common respiratory infection symptoms such as fever, chills, cough, sore throat and runny nose. None were hospitalized, officials said. The other cases in the US were also mild.
A fifth person with symptoms is being tested, but results have not yet been released, authorities said. Workers were butchering poultry at a farm in northeast Colorado, according to state health officials. All had direct contact with infected birds.
A bird flu virus has been spreading since 2020 among mammals – including dogs, cats, possums, bears and even stamps and porpoises – in several countries. Earlier this year, the virus, known as H5N1, was detected in U.S. livestock and is now circulating in cattle in several states.
Health officials continue to characterize the threat to the general public as low and the virus has not spread between people. But authorities are keeping careful watch because previous versions of the same virus have been deadly to people.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sent a nine-person team to Colorado to help with the investigation at the state’s request, CDC officials said.
These cases earlier this year were among dairy farm workers in Michigan, Texas and Colorado.
The virus detected in the four most recent cases is at least in part identical to the type found in previous U.S. cases, but additional genetic analysis is underway to ensure it is exactly the same, officials said.
As of Friday, the H5N1 virus has been confirmed in 152 dairy herds in 12 states, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Hundreds of commercial poultry flocks in more than 30 states have reported H5N1 or other types of bird flu.
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