US reports its first human case of H5 bird flu

By Shivam Patel
April 29, 2022 — 
The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention has announced the first known human case of H5 bird flu in the United States in a person in Colorado.

The person tested positive for avian influenza A(H5) virus and was involved in the culling of poultry presumed to have had H5N1 bird flu, the centre said in a statement.

“This case does not change the human risk assessment for the general public, which CDC considers to be low,” the agency added.


The H5 avian flu has been found in 29 American states. CREDIT:AP

The patient reported fatigue for a few days as the only symptom and has since recovered, the CDC said, adding that the person was being isolated and treated with the influenza antiviral drug oseltamivir.

H5N1 viruses have been found in US commercial and backyard birds in 29 states and in wild birds in 34 states since the centre started monitoring for illness among people exposed to the viruses in late 2021.

“CDC has tracked the health of more than 2,500 people with exposures to H5N1 virus-infected birds and this is the only case that has been found to date. Other people involved in the culling operation in Colorado have tested negative for H5 virus infection, but they are being retested out of an abundance of caution,” the CDC said.

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Globally, this is the second human case associated with this specific group of H5 viruses, which are currently predominant, the CDC said. The first was reported in Britain in December 2021.

Reuters

 NEDERLANDS

Bird flu claims over three million victims in six month outbreak 

Business April 29, 2022 

The bird flu epidemic in the Netherlands continues unabated and at least 600,000 ducks and hens have been killed this month alone, according to government figures. 

The latest case is in Lunteren, where bird flu has been found on a poultry farm with 50,000 birds. It is the fifth case of bird flu in the Gelderland town this month and 37 other farms within three kilometres of the affected location are now being checked for the disease. 

The Dutch poultry industry is concentrated around Lunteren and Barneveld in Gelderland, where some 230 farms are located within a 10 kilometre radius, local paper the Gelderlander reported.

Some three million birds have been killed because of bird flu in the six months since the disease was first identified in the Netherlands. 

The Netherlands has some 1,700 poultry farms, half of which produce eggs – totalling some 10 billion eggs a year.

 Bird flu infections have so far been found on 30 farms, most of which were producing eggs.

Read more at DutchNews.nl