What’s New
Health officials announced the first case of human H5 bird flu in Los Angeles on Monday, a significant development since California Governor Gavin Newsom announced a state of emergency over the virus last week.
Why It Matters
While bird flu typically infects poultry and wild birds, the virus moved into dairy cow herds in 2024 and at least 65 human cases have been confirmed this year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Most human cases have occurred in people exposed to cattle or poultry, while the source of infection was unknown in two cases and one case was linked to a different infected animal. There have been no reports of U.S. human-to-human transmission.
A majority of the human bird flu cases, 35, have been reported in California. Newsom described his emergency declaration as a “proactive action to strengthen robust state response,” while stressing that “the risk to the public remains low.”
The human bird flu cases detected this year in the U.S. have overwhelmingly resulted in mild symptoms. The CDC confirmed the first “severe” human case in Louisiana last week.
What To Know
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health announced on Monday that the first human H5 bird flu case in Los Angeles County had been detected in an adult who got sick after being exposed to infected livestock.
“The person had mild symptoms, has been treated with antivirals, and is recovering at home,” the department said in a press release. “The overall risk of H5 bird flu to the public remains low. There is currently no evidence of person to person spread of this virus.”
“People rarely get bird flu, but those who interact with infected livestock or wildlife have a greater risk of infection,” Los Angeles County Health Officer Dr. Muntu Davis said. “This case reminds us to take basic precautions to prevent being exposed.”
The public was urged to refrain from consuming raw milk or giving it to their pets, as the virus has been detected in unpasteurized milk and associated with the deaths of multiple cats that became infected in Los Angeles.
People who work with livestock were also urged to thoroughly wash their hands and to wear personal protective equipment like gloves, masks, goggles and coveralls while working with the animals.
Symptoms of bird flu in humans can include fever, redness or discharge in eyes, coughing or difficulty breathing, sore throat, muscle or body aches, diarrhea and vomiting.
Newsweek reached out for comment to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health via email on Monday night.
What People Are Saying
Professor Ed Hutchinson, virus expert at the University of Glasgow, Scotland, in previous comments to Newsweek: “When an influenza virus from a different animal adapts to spread effectively among humans, the result is a pandemic… The more encounters the virus has with humans, the more chances it has to adapt to growing in them, and if it can mix and match its genes with a human seasonal flu, that could accelerate this process.”
Jennifer Nuzzo, professor of epidemiology and director of the Brown University School of Public Health’s Pandemic Center, in recent comments to NBC News: “The more people infected, the more possibility mutations could occur … I don’t like giving the virus a runway to a pandemic.”
What Happens Next
While the CDC maintains that public health risk from bird flu is “low,” the health agency says it is “watching the situation carefully and working with states to monitor people with animal exposures.”
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