Here’s What We Know About Bird Flu in People – CNET

It started out ravaging the poultry industry, but bird flu made the jump to US cattle this year and has beenimpacting the dairy industrysince spring, thinning the virus' line between where it's stayed so far (spreading between animals) and contact with humans.

This month, ahandful of new bird flu cases in farm workers from Colorado who had direct contact with sick birds were discovered. While they weren't the first human cases, the new cluster of cases prompted more concern the virus may one day start spreading from person to person and pose a greater health threat to people. It also called attention to the way some people are tasked with handling affected birdsin potentially dangerous ways and the risks to their health, as NPR reported.

Importantly, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention maintained that the threat to the general publicis low; in the US, all confirmed bird flu cases since the outbreak began have been mild and confirmed in people with direct contact with animals -- not the general public. Still, health officials have been taking steps to curb the spread of avian influenza (specifically, H5N1 or "bird flu") by ramping up their monitoring of the virus and preparing for the worst-case scenario. The US Department of Health and Human Services announced in early July that the government is providing Moderna $176 million to develop its influenza mRNA vaccine, which could be used in the case bird flu ever became a pandemic.

As long as animals and humans live, work and gather around each other, there will be a risk of viruses mutating enough to make the jump from species to species. Fortunately, bird flu in humans so far has been rare, in part because the virus doesn't spread that easily from animals to humans, or between humans, although sporadic cases have occurred in other countries as well as the US.

Here's what to know about bird flu, or avian influenza, and what it looks like in people.

Bird flu started as a poultry and bird issue in the US but has spread to cows, which frequently have close contact with people and further the risk of the virus making the jump to humans one day.

In short,bird flu, aka avian influenza, is a type of flu that spreads between some animals and is currently causing outbreaks among birds and cattle in the US. Scientists are watching it closely for mutations that could make it easier to spread between people, because while it isn't currently able to spread between people, if it gained the ability to do so it would pose a major public health threat.

More specifically, bird flu is a disease caused by infection with an influenza type A virus, and is either "highly pathogenic" or "low pathogenic;" the current H5N1 outbreak strain is highly pathogenic.

Bird flu was first detected and controlled in 1997, but itreemerged in 2003 and started spreading widely among birds.

The World Health Organization reportsfour types of influenza viruses: A, B, C and D. Type A viruses, which occur in both humans and different kinds of animals, are the biggest threat to public health and can cause pandemics, the WHO says. The"swine flu" of 2009's pandemicwas caused by a type A virus.Seasonal flu virusesin humans are caused by type A and type B viruses.

Bird flu has been ravaging the US poultry industry for the last couple of years, resulting in the culling (killing) of millions of infected or potentially infected birds.

According to information last updated by the CDC on July 19, there have been at least 11 reported human cases of H5 (highly pathogenic) bird flu in the US since 2022, which is when the outbreak in birds kicked off in the US.

Human cases remain rare, but bird flu is considered a serious threat to public health because of its historically high mortality rate --about halfof bird flu H5N1 in people have resulted in death since tracking began, according to WHO information. No deaths from bird flu have been reported in the US; people who've tested positive for the virus had direct contact with sick animals and exhibited mild symptoms.

There haven't been any reports of people getting bird flu in the US from drinking milk or eating meat from birds or cows. The commercial food supply, which makes up most food you'd get in a regular grocery store, is regulated and meat from impacted animals shouldn't make it to store shelves.

There have been fragments of inactive bird flu virus found in pasteurized milk samples since the virus started spreading to cows, the high-temperature pasteurization process inactivates any virus or bacteria, including bird flu, that could make people sick. Infectious virus has been found in raw milk, and the US Food and Drug Administration is reiterating the general health risks of drinking raw milk, not just in terms of bird flu but also for other pathogens that often live in unpasteurized milk.

In terms of meat,cooking ground hamburger meat is also expected to inactive or kill the bird flu virus, according to the Department of Agriculture. The same is true for poultry; according to the CDC, cooking eggs and poultryto an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit kills viruses, including bird flu.

Beyond cooking your food thoroughly, it may be difficult to catch influenza from food or drinking sources anyway, according to infectious disease experts we've spoken to in the past since influenza (which bird flu is) is a respiratory virus.

If you work directly with animals or livestock, which would include the event you work on a farm or even visit a fair where there's livestock, the CDC has specific tips for safety to reduce the risk of spread.

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Here's What We Know About Bird Flu in People - CNET