Michigan reports another person working with cows got bird flu, the third US case this year

Another Michigan dairy worker has been diagnosed with bird flu, the third human case associated with an outbreak in U.S. dairy cows, health officials said Thursday.

This person developed respiratory symptoms, unlike the two workers, who had only mild eye symptoms, health officials said. But the farmworker was quickly provided antivirals and is recovering from respiratory symptoms, Michigan health officials said.

The risk to the public remains low, although farmworkers exposed to infected animals are at higher risk, health officials said. The Michigan cases occurred on different farms and there are no signs of spread among people, officials said.

Neither of the Michigan workers was wearing a face shield or other personal protective equipment, which “tells us that direct exposure to infected livestock poses a risk to humans, and that PPE is an important tool in preventing spread among individuals who work on dairy and poultry farms,” Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian, the chief medical executive of Michigan’s health department, said in a statement.

In late March, a farmworker in Texas was diagnosed in what officials called the first known instance globally of a person catching this version of bird flu from a mammal. Last week, Michigan officials announced the first case there.

Since 2020, a bird flu virus has been spreading among more animal species—including dogs, cats, skunks, bears and even seals and porpoises—in scores of countries.

The new case marks the fourth time a person in the United States has been diagnosed with what’s known as Type A H5N1 virus. In 2022, a prison inmate in a work program picked it up while killing infected birds at a poultry farm in Montrose County, Colorado. His only symptom was fatigue, and he recovered. That predated the virus’s appearance in cows.

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