A person in Texas has been diagnosed with bird flu, an infection linked to the recent discovery of the virus in dairy cows, health officials said Monday.
The patient is being treated with an antiviral drug and their only reported symptom was redness of the eyes, Texas health officials said. The person had been in contact with dairy cows that were suspected of being infected, officials said.
The development comes after milk from dairy cows in Texas and Kansas tested positive for bird flu last week and federal agriculture officials confirmed infections in a Michigan dairy herd that had recently received cows from Texas. While the infections have raised alarms, health officials have said the risk to humans remains low and that the commercial milk supply is safe because such products are pasteurized before being sold.
Dairy producers have implemented additional biosecurity efforts in response to the infections, including limiting the amount of traffic to and from farms and limiting visits to employees and essential personnel.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Monday that while the risk to the general public is low, people with close, prolonged and unprotected exposure to infected animals are at greater risk. The CDC will monitor those who may have come into contact with potentially infected animals, the agency said in a statement rack.
“CDC is working closely with state and federal agencies, including USDA, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and local health authorities to further investigate and closely monitor this situation,” the agency said.
The virus has been found in hundreds of mammal species worldwide in recent years.
This bird flu was first identified as a threat to humans during a 1997 outbreak in Hong Kong. According to the World Health Organization, more than 460 people have died from bird flu infections in the past twenty years.
The vast majority of infected people got it directly from birds, but scientists are on the lookout for any sign of spread to humans.
This is only the second time someone in the United States has been diagnosed with the so-called Type A H5N1 virus. In 2022, an inmate in a work program contracted the disease while killing infected birds on a poultry farm in Montrose County, Colorado. His only symptom was fatigue, and he recovered.
The virus can cause a range of illnesses, from eye infections and upper respiratory illnesses to more severe cases, such as pneumonia, and has caused death, the CDC said.
Texas officials have not identified the newly infected person and have not yet released details about what brought them into contact with the cows.