Two California dairy workers were infected with bird flu, latest human
cases in US
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[October 04, 2024]
BY JONEL ALECCIA
Two dairy workers in California were infected with bird flu, the 15th
and 16th human cases detected this year in an ongoing outbreak affecting
the nation's dairy cows, health officials said Thursday.
The latest cases were found in workers who had contact with infected
cattle in California's Central Valley, where more than 50 herds have
been affected since August. The workers developed eye redness known as
conjunctivitis and had mild symptoms.
California health officials said the workers were employed at different
farms and there is no known link between the two cases, suggesting that
they were infected through animal contact, not by people.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday
confirmed the positive test results, the first for California. CDC
officials said new cases of bird flu in people exposed to infected
animals is “not unexpected.” The risk to the public remains low, they
added.
Across the U.S., more than 250 dairy herds have been infected in 14
states since the outbreak of H5N1 avian influenza was confirmed in
March. Avian influenza has been spreading in wild and domestic birds in
the U.S. for several years but recently was found in dairy cows.
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In this photo provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, an
animal caretaker collects a blood sample from a dairy calf
vaccinated against bird flu in a containment building at the
National Animal Disease Center research facility in Ames, Iowa, on
Wednesday, July 31, 2024. (USDA Agricultural Research Service via
AP, File)
Before this year, one case of bird
flu was detected in a person, a Colorado poultry worker who fell ill
in 2022. Most cases this year have been detected in workers who had
contact with cattle or poultry in Colorado, Michigan and Texas. A
person in Missouri was also infected, but that person had no known
contact with animals and the source of that illness has not been
determined.
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