Health authorities say a person in the US has become ill with bird flu for the first time without having had contact with infected animals.
The adult with previous illness was admitted to a Missouri hospital on Aug. 22, given antiviral drugs for the flu, recovered and was released, the U.S. (CDC) and state health authorities said Friday.
No contact with animals
Because an initial test appeared abnormal, further testing was ordered at state and federal labs, which revealed it was bird flu.
It is the 14th case of bird flu this year in the United States and the first in which there is no information about the patient’s contact with animals.
The Missouri Department of Health said no bird flu infection has been reported in a dairy herd in the state.
Risk to the population “remains low”
The H5N1 avian influenza virus has recently been found not only in birds, but has increasingly spread to mammals, including dairy cattle in the US, in recent months.
The cases of bird flu in humans have raised fears of an impending pandemic, but the CDC stressed Friday that the risk to the general public “remains low.”
Source: Krone
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