It’s spreading rapidly among cows. It’s also infecting skunks, mountain lions and red foxes.
Yet as the highly contagious avian flu affects mammals across the US, just one human case has been reported so far.
But that’s probably only because there is extremely limited testing of people underway to detect it. State governments and farm owners have kept Centers for Disease Control and Prevention teams from conducting on-the-ground investigations that would offer a fuller picture of the prevalence of the virus in humans.
That threatens to impair federal officials’ response to an outbreak that many experts view as the biggest test for pandemic readiness systems since Covid-19. The recent patient is recovering after experiencing eye redness as their sole symptom. However, avian flu typically kills half the people known to have been infected, hinting at the danger it poses if it were to spread widely.
The CDC does not have authorization to carry out on-the-ground investigations without an invitation, and the states that have confirmed infected cattle say they have not made such an overture to the agency.