A second dairy worker has tested positive for H5N1, the influenza A virus known as bird flu. The confirmed case involves a Michigan farmworker, the Michigan Department of Health announced on Wednesday. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the risk to the public remains low and that the patient recovered with mild symptoms.
The farmworker in question was regularly exposed to dairy cows, which have been catching the virus as it has spread through dairy and poultry farms throughout the United States the last several months. Bird flu can be fatal, although it is usually treatable; its main symptoms include fever, cough, sore throat, diarrhea, vomiting, muscle aches and fatigue. For the most part the disease is limited to animals like chickens and cows, as well as wild animals such as seals, although the infected Michigan farmworker is the third confirmed human patient in America since 2022 and the second that is related to the dairy industry.
