Earlier this month, the first human case of avian influenza A (H5N1 this year) in the United States was reported.1-3 The person became infected following contact with dairy cows presumed to be infected with avian influenza. The person’s primary symptom has been conjunctivitis and is being treated with an antiviral. The person was told to isolate while in recovery. As of today, there is just 1 isolated case in Texas.
It remains unclear as to how the Texas case happened. Richard Webby, PhD, director of the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Studies on the Ecology of Influenza in Animals and Birds and Department of Host-Microbe Interactions, Division of Virology, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, says that if you make the assumption there were sick birds nearby, somehow cows got infected and then likely passed the virus along to the person in Texas.
Overall these are wild, migratory birds that might be traveling great distances and could be infected from hosts thousands of miles away.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the general public should avoid unprotected exposure to sick or dead animals including wild birds, poultry, other domesticated birds, and other wild or domesticated animals (including cattle), as well as with animal carcasses, raw milk, feces, litter, or materials contaminated by birds or other animals with confirmed or suspected HPAI A(H5N1)-virus infection.3,4
People should not prepare or eat uncooked or undercooked food or related uncooked food products, such as unpasteurized (raw) milk, or products made from raw milk such as cheeses, from animals with confirmed or suspected HPAI A(H5N1)-virus infection.