2024-09-07 14:06:31
In the US state of Missouri, a person has become infected with the bird flu virus H5N1 – without having come into contact with animals.
According to health authorities, this is the first time that a person in the USA has contracted bird flu without having had contact with infected animals. The adult, who had a pre-existing condition, was admitted to a hospital in the US state of Missouri on August 22. There he received antiviral medication for influenza, recovered and was discharged, the US health authorities (CDC) and the state announced on Friday.
Because an initial test appeared abnormal, further tests were ordered in state and federal laboratories, which showed that the case was bird flu. This is the 14th case of bird flu in the United States this year and the first in which there is no information about the patient’s contact with animals.
The Missouri Department of Health said no bird flu infection had been reported in a dairy herd in the state.
The H5N1 bird flu virus has not only been detected in birds, but has also increasingly spread to mammals in recent months, including dairy cattle in the USA.
The bird flu cases in humans raised fears of an impending pandemic. However, the CDC stressed on Friday that the risk to the population “remains low.”