The first image of a Texas farm worker infected with bird flu from a cow shows he suffered bleeding in his eyeballs.
It is thought to be the first known case of mammal-to-human transmission and comes as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warned bird flu (H5N1) viruses "pose pandemic potential."
The dairy worker attended a hospital in March after experiencing painful red, weeping eyes with burst blood vessels.
His eyes began to swell up though he had no fever and an examination showed his lungs were clear, according to a letter published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Friday.
The journal also contained the image of the infected man, alongside the scientific term for his eye condition: conjunctivitis with subconjunctival hemorrhage.
He told investigators he had not been in contact with sick or dead birds, but did have repeated direct close contact with dairy cows in an area known to have infected herds.
Swabs of his eyes revealed a substantial presence of the H5N1 virus, though little was found in his lungs.
This has led to researchers considering whether he was infected through the eyes by rubbing them with contaminated hands or by being splashed with contaminated liquid - such as milk.
In the New England Journal of Medicine report, CDC epidemiologists said they were unable to access the farm where he was infected, which prevented them from being able to research precisely how workers may have been exposed.
CDC warns bird flu outbreak ‘poses pandemic potential’ as fears of human infection surge
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has warned that the ongoing bird flu outbreaks “pose pandemic potential,” according to a new report.
While the CDC has said the virus appears to present “a low risk to the general public,” the agency’s scientists have allegedly run into a roadblock investigating a human case of H5N1.
In a report published on Friday in the New England Journal of Medicine, CDC epidemiologists said they were unable to access a Texas dairy farm where a human was infected with the virus in March, which prevented them from being able to research how workers may have been exposed.
Lara Anton, a spokesperson for the Texas Department of State Health Services, said it’s because the infected dairy worker “did not disclose the name of their workplace” during a visit to a Texas field office for testing.
As a result, epidemiologists were unable to collect follow-up samples from the dairy farm worker or their contacts, which could have caused missed cases.
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