March 2024 was the month during which Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) jumped from birds (and possibly some mammals) to goats and cattle. Today, news reports tell of the spread of the disease to a person.
Last Tuesday, Bluestem posted Dairy cattle in Kansas and Texas catch highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) from wild birds. That was just six days after I posted Minnesota Board of Animal Health: Stevens County goat tests positive for avian influenza.
It's April 1. The Associated Press's Mike Stobbe reports in Person is diagnosed with bird flu after being in contact with cows in Texas:
ATLANTA (AP) — A person in Texas has been diagnosed with bird flu, an infection tied to the recent discovery of the virus in dairy cows, health officials said Monday.
The patient is being treated with an antiviral drug and their only reported symptom was eye redness, Texas health officials said. Health officials say the person had been in contact with cows presumed to be infected, and the risk to the public remains low.
Last week, dairy cows in Texas and Kansas were reported to be infected with bird flu — and federal agriculture officials later confirmed infections in a Michigan dairy herd that had recently received cows from Texas.
Since 2020, the bird flu virus has been spreading among more animal species – including dogs, cats, skunks, bears and even seals and porpoises – in scores of countries. However, the detection is U.S. livestock is an “unexpected and problematic twist,” said Dr. Ali Khan, a former CDC outbreak investigator who is now dean of the University of Nebraska’s public health college.
This bird flu was first identified as a threat to people during a 1997 outbreak in Hong Kong. More than 460 people have died in the past two decades from bird flu infections, according to the World Health Organization.
. . .t’s only the second 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.
Bluestem hopes local dairy herds stay healthy.
Photo: Some Holsteins.
Related posts
- Dairy cattle in Kansas and Texas catch highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) from wild birds
- Minnesota Board of Animal Health: Stevens County goat tests positive for avian influenza
- MN Board of Animal Health: HPAI confirmed in commercial Meeker County turkey flock
- MN DNR: Wild fox in Minnesota tests positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza
- In America's turkey industry, SD producers hit hardest by highly pathogenic avian influenza
- Board of Animal Health: Minnesota poultry sales and exhibitions temporarily banned for 31 days
- Board of Animal Health: Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza confirmed in two Minnesota flocks
- SD Game, Fish & Parks: Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) detected in South Dakota
- Associated Press: Bird flu detected among commercial flock in southeastern South Dakota
- Minnesota Reformer: Menacing bird flu detected in western Iowa backyard chicken and duck flock
- Shocking photos in state vet's report to Midwest lawmakers reveal bird flu toll to farmers & flocks
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