May 22, 2024 – A Michigan farmworker has tested positive for the bird flu virus, the second such case in the U.S. since the beginning of the current outbreak.
The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services said Wednesday that the farmworker had regular exposure to livestock infected with the H5N1 virus.
The Michigan farmworker has mild symptoms and has recovered. The department did not release the worker’s name or employer.
The CDC says the risk to the general public is low and that testing of milk and ground beef has not detected evidence of live virus.
A Texas dairy farmer was confirmed in April to be the first in the U.S. to contract the virus from sick cattle. That worker also had mild symptoms, reportedly conjunctivitis, or pink eye. A third case occurred in Colorado in 2022, but that was from poultry and was not considered part of the current outbreak.
To date, the virus has been confirmed in wild animals including foxes, bears, seals, and sea lions, as well as in domesticated animals, including pets such as cats and dogs, farmed mink and foxes, and livestock such as goats and cows.
In Michigan, the state “has led a swift public health response, and we have been tracking this situation closely since influenza A (H5N1) was detected in poultry and dairy herds in Michigan,” said Natasha Bagdasarian, MD, chief medical executive for the state of Michigan. “Farmworkers who have been exposed to impacted animals have been asked to report even mild symptoms, and testing for the virus has been made available.”
The CDC reports nine states have seen outbreaks in cattle, affecting 51 herds.
