ATLANTA (AP) — An individual in Texas has been recognized with chook flu, an an infection tied to the current discovery of the virus in dairy cows, well being officers mentioned Monday.The affected person was being handled with an antiviral drug and their solely reported symptom was eye redness, Texas well being officers mentioned. Well being officers say the individual had been in touch with cows presumed to be contaminated, and the danger to the general public stays low. It marks the primary recognized occasion globally of an individual catching this model of chook flu from a mammal, federal well being officers mentioned.Nonetheless, there’s no proof of person-to-person unfold or that anybody has turn out to be contaminated from milk or meat from livestock, mentioned Dr. Nirav Shah, principal deputy director of the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention. Genetic exams don’t counsel that the virus out of the blue is spreading extra simply or that it’s inflicting extra extreme sickness, Shah mentioned. And present antiviral drugs nonetheless appear to work, he added.
Final week, dairy cows in Texas and Kansas have been reported to be contaminated with chook flu — and federal agriculture officers later confirmed infections in a Michigan dairy herd that had not too long ago obtained cows from Texas. Not one of the tons of of affected cows have died, Shah mentioned.
Since 2020, a chook flu virus has been spreading amongst extra animal species – together with canine, cats, skunks, bears and even seals and porpoises – in scores of nations. Nonetheless, the detection in U.S. livestock is an “sudden and problematic twist,” mentioned Dr. Ali Khan, a former CDC outbreak investigator who’s now dean of the College of Nebraska’s public well being faculty.
This chook flu was first recognized as a risk to individuals throughout a 1997 outbreak in Hong Kong. Greater than 460 individuals have died up to now twenty years from chook flu infections, in line with the World Well being Group. The overwhelming majority of contaminated individuals acquired it instantly from birds, however scientists have been on guard for any signal of unfold amongst individuals.
Texas officers didn’t determine the newly contaminated individual, nor launch any particulars about what introduced them in touch with the cows.The CDC doesn’t advocate testing for individuals who haven’t any signs. Roughly a dozen individuals in Texas who did have signs have been examined in reference to the dairy cow infections, however solely the one individual got here again optimistic, Shah mentioned.It’s solely the second time an individual in america has been recognized with what’s often known as Kind A H5N1 virus. In 2022, a jail inmate in a piece program picked it up whereas killing contaminated birds at a poultry farm in Montrose County, Colorado. His solely symptom was fatigue, and he recovered.___The Related Press Well being and Science Division receives help from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Instructional Media Group. The AP is solely answerable for all content material.