The United States reports second case of avian flu in humans transmitted by cattle

     The affected individual works on a farm in the state of Michigan (northern) where the H5N1 virus was discovered in dairy cows, the Centers for Disease Preve ntion and Control (CDC) said.

     Two months after the first case in the United States, health authorities reported on Wednesday a second case of avian flu in humans related to an epidemic of this virus that spreads in cattle. 

     The affected individual works on a farm in the state of Michigan (northern) where the H5N1 virus was discovered in dairy cows, the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) said.

     For health authorities, the risk assessment for the US population remains “low.” A first case in Texas (south), which was announced on April 1, was “probably” the first in the world of bird flu infection through a cattle, according to the CDC.

     The person who was infected in Michigan, as in the case of Texas, only presented symptoms in the eyes, the CDC detailed. A first case of avian flu, which was transmitted by birds, had already been detected in a human in the central state of Colorado in 2022. 

     The increasing number of mammals infected by this disease alerts experts, even though human cases are unusual. For now, there is no evidence of human-to-human transmission, but scientists fear that mass circulation will create a mutation of the virus that makes it transmissible.

Source:  USDA