The first person without known contact with an animal has been infected with the the H5N1 virus, commonly known as bird or avian flu, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed Friday.
The case, detected in Missouri, was identified through the state’s seasonal flu surveillance system. The risk to the general public remains low, the CDC said.
Missouri’s Department of Health and Senior Services said the patient was hospitalized in August, but the individual, with “no immediate known animal exposure,” had underlying medical conditions. The individual was treated with influenza antiviral medications, later discharged and has since recovered, per the department.
At least 13 other people in the U.S. have been infected with bird flu this year, but they all have been exposed to infected animals through work — including poultry and cows.
“While other novel flu cases have been detected through the country’s national flu surveillance system, this is the first time that system has detected a case of H5,” the CDC said.
The virus was first detected in dairy cows in March, but no cows in Missouri have been infected.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) confirmed earlier this year that there were outbreaks in 51 cattle herds across the country in states including Michigan, New Mexico, North Carolina, Kansas, Colorado, Idaho, Ohio, South Dakota and Texas.
In June, the World Health Organization said a man in Mexico had died of the bird flu, but it was not a strain of the virus detected before.
A former CDC director has predicted that a bird flu pandemic will happen, it’s just a matter of when.
He noted that bird flu has a “significant mortality” rate compared to COVID-19.
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