A dairy employee in Colorado has been contaminated with chicken flu, marking the fourth human case in an ongoing outbreak that began with detection of the illness in cattle this spring.Colorado well being officers mentioned the person skilled delicate signs, reporting solely eye irritation, a situation often called conjunctivitis.The Colorado Division of Public Well being and Setting mentioned in a press release that the person was given antiviral treatment and recovered. He works at a dairy farm in northeastern Colorado and had direct publicity to dairy cattle contaminated with H5N1, a virus that causes chicken flu.Colorado well being officers mentioned they supplied private protecting gear to the ability the place the person labored.“We’re nonetheless gathering further details about the employee’s exposures and PPE use,” state epidemiologist Rachel Herlihy mentioned in a press release.No family contacts of the farmworker have developed signs and there’s no proof of person-to-person transmission, Herlihy mentioned. State and native well being officers are conducting follow-up investigations and can do further testing if wanted, Herlihy mentioned.Two different dairy staff contaminated earlier — in Texas in April and in Michigan in Could — additionally reported eye irritation. A second Michigan employee contaminated in late Could reported having a cough and eye discomfort with watery discharge. That employee was the primary to report extra intensive respiratory and eye signs.Colorado well being officers mentioned the employee developed signs in late June, reported his signs at some point later and was examined two days after signs started. These preliminary exams have been inconclusive. Extra testing by the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention confirmed the presence of chicken flu.In 2022, a poultry employee in Colorado examined constructive for a similar pressure of avian influenza. Internationally, circumstances of human sickness have ranged from delicate infections to extra extreme sickness, together with pneumonia.Federal well being and agriculture officers have repeatedly underscored the significance of dairy farm homeowners guaranteeing that staff take precautions — akin to carrying private protecting gear — when working with contaminated cattle. Federal and state officers have made provides obtainable to dairy farms however haven’t required their use.Dairy farm staff sometimes specific milk by hand from cow teats earlier than attaching milking gear. A splash of contaminated milk might get into the attention instantly, or the virus might enter when staff contact their eyes with a contaminated hand. Eye infections have been related to earlier human infections of chicken flu.Many public well being consultants have mentioned inadequate testing of cattle is hampering the power to know and management the outbreak, which was formally detected in March however might have been in cows since December.A latest Agriculture Division examine of H5N1 in 15 dairy herds and eight poultry flocks in Michigan discovered three danger elements for native unfold, together with contaminated gear or equipment, individuals who carry the virus on their clothes or boots, and the animals themselves.Federal well being officers mentioned this week their evaluation of danger has not modified. The risk to the general public stays low, and though dairy staff and others in touch with contaminated animals are at larger danger, U.S. officers are usually not recommending vaccination for any teams of individuals.Earlier this week, federal officers introduced plans to develop vaccine and testing capability in case the continued chicken flu outbreak in dairy cattle causes a rise in human circumstances, if the virus modifications to turn out to be extra simply unfold or causes extra extreme illness, or if circumstances happen with no connection to an contaminated herd or particular person.The U.S. authorities has stockpiled 4.8 million doses of chicken flu vaccine, and people photographs are anticipated to be obtainable beginning in mid-July. The U.S. authorities has additionally awarded $176 million to Moderna to finish improvement and testing of an mRNA-based vaccine in opposition to H5N1.