Four poultry workers in Colorado have been diagnosed with avian flu, health officials said Sunday.
The additional cases increase the overall number of infections in the United States to nine since the current outbreak’s first human case was found in 2022, again in a Colorado poultry worker. Eight of the nine cases were recorded this year.
Their infections were quite minor, with reddish and irritated eyes and typical respiratory infection symptoms such as fever, chills, coughing, sore throat, and runny nose. There were no hospitalizations, according to officials. Other incidences in the United States have been mild as well.
A fifth person with symptoms is being tested, but the findings are not yet available, officials added. State health officials said the workers were slaughtering birds on a farm in northeast Colorado. Everyone had direct contact with diseased birds.
Since 2020, the bird flu virus has spread throughout mammals worldwide, including dogs, cats, skunks, bears, seals, and porpoises. Earlier this year, the H5N1 virus was discovered in livestock in the United States, and it is already circulating in multiple states.
Health experts continue to describe the threat to the general public as low, and the virus has not spread between individuals. However, experts are keeping a close eye on the situation because previous forms of the virus have killed individuals.
At the request of the state, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sent a nine-person team to Colorado to assist with the investigation, according to CDC officials.
These incidences occurred earlier this year among dairy farm workers in Michigan, Texas, and Colorado.
The virus detected in the four most recent instances is at least partially identical to the type found in earlier U.S. cases, but more genetic work is being conducted to ensure it is the same, officials said.
According to the APNews, the H5N1 virus had been identified in 152 dairy cows across 12 states as of Friday. Hundreds of commercial poultry flocks in over 30 states have reported H5N1 or other forms of bird flu.