United States: A recent medical study revealed alarming symptoms in a dairy farm worker who contracted avian flu from a sick cow.
More about the affected dairy farm worker
The worker, located in North Texas, exhibited burst blood vessels in both eyes, with yellowish liquid leaking from the right eye, resembling normal wound leakage.
About the disease
According to the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), the worker was diagnosed with a subconjunctival hemorrhage.
The patient tested positive for the A influenza virus type and A (H5) subtype, confirmed by eye and nasal secretion smears, as reported by independent.co.uk.
Medical officers noted that the symptoms resembled pink eye, an inflammation leading to eye redness.
Despite being infected with avian flu, the worker did not show common symptoms such as high fever, coughing, or sneezing. The worker received oral oseltamivir, a viral medication, and fully recovered.
The worker reported wearing gloves but did not use respiratory or eye protection. They had no contact with poultry, wild birds, or other animals except for dairy cows.
Currently the risk to the public is likely to remain low, even though several more cases might appear. This, according to one study.
The NEJM study noted that avian flu, officially called H5N1, has the potential to become a pandemic but that candidate vaccine viruses are available to manufacturers and could be used to create a vaccine. The current risk to the public remains low, but more cases of people contracting the illness are expected, according to the study.
What does the CDC say?
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported only two cases worldwide of individuals contracting avian influenza A (H5N1) since 2022. One case involved a person becoming sick from poultry in Colorado, while the other was a dairy farm worker in Texas. There have been no reports of human-to-human transmission.
The CDC confirmed the presence of the virus in the farm worker’s samples.
Avian flu has affected cattle herds in at least nine states, with 36 recorded cases since the USDA began tracking the bird flu.
The virus can spread to other animal species. A study from the University of California, Davis, found the disease in sea lions and one seal. In December, the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation reported finding the virus in one dead polar bear.