U.S. Records First Human Case Of Highly Contagious Bird Flu

A highly contagious strain of the avian flu was detected in a human for the first time during a recent spike in cases among birds nationwide, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced in a news release shared on Thursday (April 28).

A man who was responsible for culling poultry presumed to have the H5N1 bird flu on a Colorado farm reported fatigue for multiple days as their only symptom and has since recovered from the virus.

The man was placed into isolation and treated with the influenza antiviral drug oseltamivir.

"While it is possible the detection of H5 bird flu in this specimen is a result of surface contamination of the nasal membrane, that can’t be determined at this point and the positive test result meets the criteria for an H5 case, the CDC wrote in its news release about the human case. "The appropriate public health response at this time is to assume this is an infection and take actions to contain and treat."

The CDC said the situation doesn't change its previously assessed risk level for the disease among the general public, which it still considers to be low, however, warns individuals with job-related or recreational exposures to infected birds that they are at a higher risk of infection and should follow necessary precautions listed here.

Federal health officials have monitored a rising number of bird flu (avian influenza virus) cases at poultry farms along the East Coast and Midwest in recent weeks, NBC News reported.

Last December, Yossi Leshem, a top renowned ornithologist in Israel who works as a zoologist at Tel Aviv University and serves as the director of the International Center for the Study of Bird Migration at Latrun, told the Daily Beast that bird flu posed a major global threat as it had the ability to mutate into new strains similarly to what has been seen from the coronavirus during the past two years.

“There could be a mutation that also infects people and turns into a mass disaster,” Leshem said.

Over half a billion migrating birds pass through the Galilee region -- where a massive outbreak was reported at the time -- every year before spending winters in warmer Africa or summers in balmy Europe, creating a threat of spreading the virus to different parts of the world.