Bird flu detected in dairy worker who had contact with infected cattle in Texas

A dairy worker in Texas is being treated for bird flu, only the second human case in the United States of an illness caused by a highly virulent virus that has recently rampaged through dairy cows in five states, federal and state officials said Monday.

The patient, who experienced eye inflammation as the only symptom, was tested for flu late last week, with confirmatory testing performed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention over the weekend. The patient was told to isolate and is being treated with oseltamivir, an antiviral drug sold under the brand name Tamiflu. The newly emerged case does not change the risk for the general public, which remains low, federal officials said.

"The patient worked directly with sick cows at a dairy, so the virus was most likely transmitted through that close contact," said Chris Van Deusen, a spokesman for the Texas Department of State Health Services.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2024/04/01/bird-flu-human-case-cow-texas/