CDC raises concern over bird flu strain first found in Texas cattle t.co/8ZqR1SUfKl
— Chron (@chron) June 8, 2024
After testing bird flu found earlier this year in a Texas dairy farm worker, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a report Friday that the H5N1 strain originating in the Lone Star State and currently spreading across the U.S. poses “a serious potential public health risk and could cause serious illness in people.”
This comes after CDC researchers tested the worker’s bird flu strain on ferrets, resulting in severe illness and death after direct contact with one another. The CDC said that ferrets have previously gotten sick from flu strains, but this is the first time a flu infection has proven fatal.
Bird flu tore through cattle in the Texas Panhandle starting in February, affecting 13 dairy farms and spreading to at least eight other states. The dairy farm worker, who reported an inflamed eye, is believed to have contracted bird flu through his work with cattle, though scientists couldn’t prove a direct connection between worker and animal as the cattle on his farm were not tested. Cows in nearby ranches, however, tested positive for H5N1.
The Texas farm worker is believed to be the first human who has ever contracted bird flu through another mammal, and not from an infected bird.
READ MORE: