A second person in the United States been infected with bird flu, health officials said Wednesday.
The case was identified in a Michigan farmworker who had regular exposure to livestock infected bird flu, or avian influenza, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) said.
The farmworker experienced mild symptoms and has since recovered. The health department said it will not be releasing any additional identifying information about the farmworker.
It comes after the first human case of bird flu was identified in Texas last month and also linked to cattle. The infected individual worked directly with sick cattle and reported eye redness as their only symptom. Only three cases, including the Michigan case, have ever been reported in the U.S.
The risk to the general public remains low, according to the MDHHS and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
A line of Holstein dairy cows feed through a fence at a dairy farm in Idaho on March 11, 2009.
Charlie Litchfield/AP
“Michigan has led a swift public health response, and we have been tracking this situation closely since influenza A (H5N1) was detected in poultry and dairy herds in Michigan,” Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian, chief medical executive at MDHHS said in a statement. “Farmworkers who have been exposed to impacted animals have been asked to report even mild symptoms, and testing for the virus has been made available.
“The current health risk to the general public remains low. This virus is being closely monitored, and we have not seen signs of sustained human-to-human transmission at this point. This is exactly how public health is meant to work, in early detection and monitoring of new and emerging illnesses,” the statement continued,”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.