A second dairy farm worker has contracted bird fever in the United States, reported the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the federal health body.
This new case, registered in Michigan, affects a person who had regular exposure to infected livestock, presented mild symptoms and has already recovered, according to the Department of Health of that state. No further information was given to preserve the privacy of that person.
“The current risk to overall public health remains low,” Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian, the department’s chief physician, said in a statement. “We have seen no signs of sustained human-to-human transmission at this point. “This is how the health system has to work, with early detections and controlling new cases,” she explained. At least 51 cattle herds in nine states have been affected by this infection.
In 2022, one person in Colorado became ill after being in direct contact with infected poultry. And last month the first cow-to-human transmission occurred in Texas, the first case of its kind.
According to health authorities, the detection of this second infected person does not suggest that avian fever has spread among citizens.
The individual in the Michigan case was under control at all times. He developed conjunctivitis and red eyes. He tested positive in a sample collected from one of his eyes but, instead, the result was negative in the nasal analysis. Those responsible for the CDC indicated that this reduces, although does not eliminate it, the possibility of respiratory transmission.
This new case of illness after contact with cattle does suggest that more animals than have been counted are infected and that workers remain at high risk of contracting bird flu.