Texas man diagnosed with bird flu after coming into contact with infected dairy cows

Miami – At least one person living in Texas was diagnosed with bird flu after being in contact with dairy cows supposedly infected with this virus, which is recently affecting farms in this state and others in Kansas and Michigan, health authorities reported this Monday.

Texas health authorities said the patient is being treated with an antiviral medication and that the only symptom he is experiencing is red eyes, or conjunctivitis.

The man appeared to have been in contact with likely infected cattle, although the risk of contagion to humans remains low, health officials added.

Dairy cows in Texas and Kansas were reported infected with bird flu last week, and days later, USDA officials reported infections in a herd of dairy cows in Michigan. who had recently received copies from Texas.

So far there are no signs that this virus has evolved in a way that can spread quickly between people, according to federal officials.

The announcement of the recent contagion of dairy cows in the US adds a worrying dimension to an outbreak that has affected millions of birds and marine mammals around the world.

Preliminary tests suggest that cows in New Mexico and Idaho could also be infected, The New York Times reported.

The virus has been identified as H5N1, a subtype of avian flu that is highly contagious among birds.

Currently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is working closely with US state health departments to monitor other possible cases of people who may have come into contact with infected birds or animals. .

This is the second case of H5N1 bird flu in people in the United States. The first was registered in 2022, the aforementioned newspaper added.

On March 25, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), USDA and CDC confirmed the detection of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in two dairy herds in Texas and Kansas that had cattle who had these symptoms.

Although the risk to the general public remains low, health authorities are closely monitoring developments with testing and analysis, as “this is a rapidly evolving situation,” the USDA warned last week.

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