The first known human case of H5 bird flu in the United States has been diagnosed in a person in Colorado, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Thursday..The US as a whole is experiencing a huge bird flu outbreak across poultry farms..The patient, described as an adult male younger than 40, working on a farm with infected poultry as part of a prison work-release program, was largely asymptomatic, reporting only a few days of fatigue, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE), said in a statement..The person tested positive for avian influenza A(H5) virus and was involved in the culling of poultry and is presumed to have had H5N1 bird flu, the CDC said..The patient has since recovered and is in quarantine and being treated with the influenza antiviral drug oseltamivir..“We want to reassure Coloradans the risk to them is low,” state epidemiologist Dr. Rachel Herlihy, said in the state health department statement. “I am grateful for the seamless collaboration between CDC, Department of Corrections, Department of Agriculture, and CDPHE, as we continue to monitor this virus and protect all Coloradans.”. Sick-chickenSick chicken. Image courtesy backyardchickens.com .H5N1 viruses have been detected in US commercial and backyard birds in 29 states and in wild birds in 34 states since the CDC began monitoring for illness among those exposed to the viruses in late 2021..The H5 virus is also known as Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) A H5 and a few different subtypes — H5N1, H5N2, and H5N8 — have been reported in the US..H5 bird flu can be highly infectious, spreading through flocks of birds and infecting their respiratory and gastrointestinal tracts. The virus has a high mortality rate in infected poultry, though outbreaks often result in millions of birds being culled to prevent spread..“If multiple reports of H5N1 infection in people from exposure to birds or spread between an infected human and another person occurs, that would be a signal of a public health risk,” the CDC said..While the other people involved in the culling operation in Colorado have tested negative for H5 virus infection, they are being retested as an extra measure of caution, the CDC added. People who have work-related or any other kind of exposure to infected birds should take extra precautions because they have an elevated risk..More than 880 human infections with earlier H5N1 viruses have been reported since 2003 worldwide. The predominant H5N1 viruses now circulating among birds globally are different from earlier H5N1 viruses, the CDC noted..Illnesses from people with past bird flu infections have ranged from mild to severe, and can sometimes result in death. The spread of earlier H5N1 viruses from one infected person to a close contact has been rare, and has not led to sustained person-to-person spread..“In other countries, humans infected with the virus have displayed symptoms similar to seasonal influenza, but their disease may progress to lower respiratory tract illness and even severe pneumonia, multi-organ failure, and septic shock,” the CDC said..Otherwise, the CDC states that the public health risk of bird-to-human transmission of H5 bird flu viruses “is thought to be low” and preliminary lab studies suggest the viruses “are not well-adapted to humans”..“Globally, this is the second human case associated with this specific group of H5 viruses, which are currently predominant,” the CDC said. The first was reported in Britain in December 2021..Amanda Brown is a reporter with the Western Standard.,.abrown@westernstandard.news.,.Twitter: @WS_JournoAmanda
