US has reported the first human H5 bird flu case

The virus appeared in a person in Colorado, marking the first documented incidence of H5 avian flu in a human in the United States.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the individual tested positive for the avian influenza A(H5) virus and was involved in the culling of poultry suspected of having H5N1 bird flu. The case, however, has no bearing on the CDC’s estimate of human risk for the broader population.

This is the second human case related to this particular category of H5 viruses worldwide. The first one was recorded in the United Kingdom in December 2021.

The CDC said the Colorado patient’s sole symptom was weariness for a few days, and he has now recovered. The patient was being treated with oseltamivir, an influenza antiviral medication, in isolation.

Since the CDC began monitoring for disease among individuals exposed to the viruses in late 2021, H5N1 viruses have been discovered in commercial and domestic birds in 29 states and wild birds in 34 states.

“The CDC has tracked the health of more than 2,500 people with exposure to H5N1 virus-infected birds and this is the only case that has been found to date. Other people involved in the culling operation in Colorado have tested negative for H5 virus infection, but they are being retested out of an abundance of caution,” it said.

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