A second human case of bird flu has been identified in Michigan, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Thursday, marking the third farmworker diagnosed with the virus in the U.S. since March.
None of the three cases are associated with the others, the CDC said. As with the previous two cases, the person works on a dairy farm with exposure to infected cows.
Unlike the other two cases, this rural worker presented respiratory symptoms, including a cough without fever and eye discomfort with watery discharge. In the remaining cases, the patients’ only sign of illness was pink eye.
This case does not change the CDC’s human health risk assessment of bird flu for the general U.S. public, which remains low, officials said, because all three cases had direct contact with infected cows.
The patient received Tamiflu, is in home isolation and reported that the symptoms are disappearing. The patient’s household contacts have not developed symptoms, are being monitored for illness and have received Tamiflu, the CDC said.
“Given the extent of spread of this virus in dairy cows, additional human cases in people with higher-risk exposures would not be surprising,” the agency said.
The CDC said its priority at this time is to prevent additional cases of bird flu infections in dairy workers, who are at greater risk of exposure.
“CDC has been closely analyzing data from flu surveillance systems, particularly in affected states, and there have been no signs of unusual flu activity in people, including in emergency rooms and detection laboratory data,” the agency said. in a statement.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
