The H5N1 virus, also known as bird flu, has created an enduring crisis this year, massacring millions of birds and other wild animals, while stirring outbreaks in dairy farms across the U.S. But now more and more human cases are being reported, raising the risk of another pandemic like COVID-19. As the number of confirmed bird flu cases continues to climb in various states across the country, many public health experts are anxiously awaiting results from testing performed in Missouri that will determine whether an infected individual passed the virus onto health care workers and a member of the household who later developed symptoms.
A third case of bird flu reported in California this week (with two others pending confirmation) is the 17th confirmed human case in the current U.S outbreak, which began in April 2022, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). All but one of these cases have occurred in farmworkers working with poultry or dairy cows who were exposed to the virus. The other occurred in Missouri.
