California has recorded its third case of bird flu in dairy farmers in just three weeks, making it the 17th human case of H5N1 flu in the United States since March.
CDC officials announced that the latest patient is experiencing mild symptoms, including redness and eye infection, and none of the three cases required hospitalization.
Experts believe the infection was transmitted through the dairy cows with which each patient comes into close contact on a daily basis. The patients did not know each other and so far there is no indication that the infection is being transmitted from person to person.
According to the CDC, more cases are likely to emerge in the coming months, given the speed at which bird flu is spreading among hundreds of dairy herds in at least 14 states.
The agency has received more samples from two other Californians who likely have bird flu, but must undergo confirmatory testing by the CDC to verify the results.
While the agency insists the risk to the public remains low, experts have expressed fears that all signs point to the virus’s ability to fuel a potential pandemic not unlike Covid-19.
At least 250 cattle herds in 14 states have been affected by bird flu since the spring, resulting in a minimum of 18 human cases this year.
CDC researchers studied the genetic makeup of each virus sample taken from patients and found no signs of mutations that would make the virus more likely to infect or spread between people, or that would make it resistant to antiviral drugs.
Infections are to be expected in people who have close contact with animals, the CDC said, while not changing its message to the public that the overall risk is low.
But outside experts are increasingly concerned that as the virus continues to spread, it will not only make more farmers sick, but also gain the ability to better infect humans on a broader scale.
Dr. Rick Bright, former undersecretary for preparedness at the Department of Health and Human Services, saying that because the virus is spreading among both birds and cows on farms, “the chances of infecting a human are increasing.”
Dr. Bright added: “We don’t know how many cows are infected, we don’t know how many people have been exposed… If we haven’t caught the virus before it mutates to be transmitted effectively from person to person, all bets are off in terms of be able to control it.’
The virus has been rampant in California dairy herds, raising the specter of a broader outbreak among the state’s farmworkers.
Farms are reporting as much as 50 to 60 percent of their herds are infected and about 15 percent of the cows are dying.
According to the California Dairy Quality Assurance Program: “As the number of infected herds increases, producers are understandably concerned and want to know how to prevent the disease from entering their herds and how best to to control it if it does so.