Colorado health officials identify another human case of bird flu in the state – The Colorado Sun

Colorado health officials on Wednesday announced that a dairy worker in northeastern Colorado contracted bird flu after having close contact with sick cattle.

The worker, an adult man, had a mild eye infection. He has since recovered.

The human case is the first to be identified in Colorado related to the ongoing outbreak of avian influenza among dairy cattle. The outbreak among Colorados dairy herds is now the worst in the nation, with 27 cases having been identified in dairy herds, all in northeastern Colorado.

Nationwide, four dairy workers have now tested positive for bird flu after working closely with infected cattle. Eye infections were most common among those workers, possibly due to contact with infected milk during milking operations.

There have been no serious illnesses from the human cases related to dairy cattle, and there has been no evidence of person-to-person transmission of the virus.

The risk to most people remains low, Dr. Rachel Herlihy, the state epidemiologist, said in a statement. Avian flu viruses are currently spreading among animals, but they are not adapted to spread from person to person. Right now, the most important thing to know is that people who have regular exposure to infected animals are at increased risk of infection and should take precautions when they have contact with sick animals.

This is the second human case of bird flu in a person in Colorado in the past two years, after a worker on a poultry farm in Montrose County tested positive for the virus in 2022. That worker likewise experienced mild symptoms and recovered with no known lasting ill effects.

As Colorados outbreak of bird flu among dairy cattle has widened, state and local health officials are currently monitoring more than 500 people who had exposure to sick cattle. More than 100 additional people have previously completed monitoring.

Following federal guidance, the state is conducting tests only on those who show possible symptoms of infection. The state has tested eight people so far for bird flu. All tests except for the most recent came back negative.

Health officials released few details about the infected worker to preserve his privacy. They said the worker reported his symptoms to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, which tested him for influenza at the state health lab. Samples were sent to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for additional testing, which confirmed an infection of H5N1 avian influenza.

Our partnership with the Colorado Department of Agriculture has been crucial in disseminating information to dairy farmers across the state, Jill Hunsaker Ryan, the executive director of CDPHE, said in a statement. Coloradans should feel confident that the state is doing everything possible to mitigate the virus.

To quell the outbreak among cattle, Colorado is focusing its efforts on improving farms biosecurity the systems and protections they use to prevent the spread of disease. The state has a program that will provide personal protective equipment such as gloves, masks and goggles, to farms.

But implementing such systems can be difficult, especially in the heat of summer. Dairy barns and milking parlors can be hot places, making it uncomfortable for workers to wear goggles or face coverings for long periods of time. But removing the equipment potentially exposes workers to bits of flu virus contained in aerosolized particles of milk or other possible routes of infection.

Dr. Maggie Baldwin, the state veterinarian, said last week that agriculture officials are working with dairies to come up with individual plans for reducing the risk of flu transmission.

One of our really big focuses in the last week or so has been working directly with the farms on coming up with an actionable biosecurity plan that makes sense for that facility, Baldwin said in an interview.

Despite the new human case of bird flu, infectious disease experts have repeatedly said that the risk to the general public currently is low. Milk products are safe to consume so long as they are pasteurized; beef is safe to eat so long its cooked. There is no evidence that flu is spreading undetected among the general public.

Where we need to ramp up the level of concern in the population, Elizabeth Carlton, a professor of epidemiology at the Colorado School of Public Health, said last week, is when we see those dairy farm workers get infected and spread it to their families.

Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.

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Colorado health officials identify another human case of bird flu in the state - The Colorado Sun