Michigan reports second human case of bird flu: Will there be a bird flu pandemic among humans?

Michigan health officials have announced that a farmworker who is regularly exposed to livestock has been infected with bird flu. This is the second case of human infection by the virus in the United States, the first being a dairy worker in Texas who tested positive for avian flu in early April after being exposed to an infected cow.

The strain of bird flu known as the highly pathogenic avian influenza A (H5N1) is spreading across the country. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), “H5N1 bird flu is widespread in wild birds worldwide and is causing outbreaks in poultry and U.S. dairy cows.”

The CDC continues to deal with the public health challenges brought about by the outbreak, including concerns that it can affect dairy products and eggs.

This is the first time that this strain of bird flu has been detected in livestock. The Texas and Michigan cases are also the first documented transmissions of an avian influenza virus from cow to human, according to the CDC.

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Will there be a bird flu pandemic among humans?

The latest case in Michigan is causing concern that the virus will spread among humans, but public health officials say that the transmission of the virus among people has not yet been detected. Scientists believe the virus has to mutate further to become easily transmissible among humans.

According to the Harvard School of Public Health, bird flu does not pose an imminent risk of a pandemic at the moment. However, experts are worried that a lack of transparency could mean that there may be other cases of infections that the public does not know about.

This lack of information could stem from farmers not wanting people to enter their property to collect samples, concerns that some workers may have immigration status issues, among other factors.

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Low risk of bird flu pandemic

The World Health Organization (WHO) says the public health risk posed by the H5N1 bird flue to be low and low-to-moderate for people exposed to infected animals.

The WHO reports that “since 2021, there have been 28 reported cases in humans, although no human-to-human transmission has been documented.”

The CDC also reassures that the spread of bird flu viruses from one infected person to another they have come into close contact with is very rare. The health agency says that when this has happened, it has not led to continued spread among people.