A person has tested positive for bird flu after being infected by a dairy cow in Texas, US authorities announced Monday, as concern grows around the virus.
• Read also: Avian flu: unprecedented discovery of cases in dairy cows in the United States
This is only the second case of someone testing positive for bird flu in the United States, after the virus sickened flocks in Texas, Kansas and several other states over the past week.
“The patient reported redness of the eyes (consistent with conjunctivitis), as the only symptom, and is recovering,” authorities said Monday, adding that he was isolated and treated with an antiviral medication used for influenza.
For health authorities, this infection does not change their assessment of the risk for the American population, considered “low”.
A first case was discovered in the country in 2022, in Colorado, but it was an infection by poultry.
Since then, goats and cows have been affected, we learned last week, to the surprise of experts.
“If we continue to find outbreaks of contamination within cows, this means that the cows will have to be monitored,” said Louise Moncla, a researcher at the veterinary school of the University of Pennsylvania, to AFP. “This would be a big change in the way we understand these viruses.”
Experts are concerned about the growing number of mammals infected with highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) and its H5N1 strain, and its potential for spread between mammals, even though cases in humans are very rare.
A nine-year-old child carrying the H5N1 strain died of bird flu in Cambodia in February, after three deaths in the same country in 2023.
“For the moment, the general public has no real reason to worry,” says Louise Moncla.
Polar bear
“Initial tests have not shown a change in the virus that would make it more transmissible to humans,” announced the Ministry of Agriculture, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the American Agency of the drug (FDA), in a press release last week, adding that the cows had been infected by wild birds.
According to Texas authorities, the infection of cattle does not present a problem for the marketing of milk, because dairies are required to destroy milk from sick cows. Pasteurization also kills viruses.
They also assured that they were working to help affected dairies limit the exposure of their employees and to monitor and test those working with infected livestock.
Cases of dairy cows infected with HPAI are a first in the United States, according to the American Veterinary Association. On March 20, Minnesota discovered cases of avian flu among young goats.
“The detection of HPAI, first in goats and then in dairy cows, highlights the importance of respecting biosecurity measures, vigilance in monitoring the disease and the immediate intervention of your veterinarian when something happens. “Things seem to be wrong,” said Rena Carlson, president of the American Veterinary Association, in a recent statement.
Avian flu killed a polar bear in Alaska, according to authorities, and hundreds of thousands of marine mammals have died from the virus in South America, according to the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research.
Since the summer of 2021, the avian influenza virus has caused the death and slaughter of millions of poultry in Europe. France slaughtered more than 30 million poultry between the summer of 2021 and last year.
