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Michigan farmer becomes third American to be infected with H5N1 bird flu - as Biden tells vaccine makers to start preparing for pandemic
A dairy farm worker in Michigan has become the third person in the US to be infected with bird flu in the current outbreak.
The patient suffered from cold like symptoms such as a cough, which is the first time this has been reported in relation to this outbreak, as well as watery discharge from their eyes, similar to the previous two cases.
The patient has been offered the antiviral oseltamivir and told to isolate at home. None of their colleagues or household contacts have reported symptoms of an infection.
The case was revealed by the CDC, which said the worker had likely caught the virus from close contact with infected cattle on the farm.
Officials in Michigan urged farmers with symptoms of an infection to come forward for testing today — as the Biden administration revealed it was brokering a deal that would open the door to doses of a bird flu vaccine being supplied to the US.
The above map shows states where bird flu infections have been confirmed in dairy cows
Pictured is the Texas farm worker who was infected with H5N1 in March. The infection began in the right eye, before spreading to the left
Officials insist the risk to the public is still 'low' and that there is no sign that the virus has spread from one person to another.
The case follows two other infections recorded among dairy farm workers — one in Texas and a second reported in Michigan last week.
There are no links between the cases, with each suspected to have been infected via a separate case of the virus spilling over to humans.
The agency said in its release: 'This is the first human case of H5 in the United States to report more typical symptoms of acute respiratory illness associated with flu virus infection, including [H5N1] viruses.
The head of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, Batasha Bagdasarian, added: 'Michigan has led a swift public health response, and we have been tracking this situation closely since [bird flu] was detected in Michigan poultry and dairy herds.
'We have not seen signs of sustained human-to-human transmission, and the current health risk to the general public remains low.'
The CDC said swabs of the patient had tested positive for an H5 flu virus on May 29, with confirmation that the case is H5N1 — or bird flu — expected in the coming days.
The patient was not wearing personal protective equipment (PPE), the release added, which can place them at higher risk of infection.
Officials in Michigan say they are now calling on farmers to report any symptoms of an infection to authorities.
They are also planning to start to test blood samples from farmers for bird flu antibodies — or virus-fighting proteins — which are made in response to infections.
This could reveal whether the virus is spreading asymptomatically in the state, or infecting humans without causing symptoms.
Officials in Ionia County, in the center of the state and where four dairy farms and four poultry farms have reported the virus, revealed the plan.
A total of 67 dairy herds in nine states have reported infections of bird flu to date.
In response, the Biden administration is now on the verge of a deal to bankroll Moderna's development of a vaccine against the disease.
In a similar operation that sped up the production of Covid vaccines, the US government is looking to fund a late-stage trial of the mRNA shot, targeting the H5N1 strain that is currently circulating in the US.
It is unclear how much it is costing but it is likely tens of millions of dollars - in return for the US getting priority of doses.
Many health experts are concerned that the virus appears to be jumping between multiple species, which gives it the opportunity to mutate.
Four pet cats, for example, died of bird flu earlier this year — including two with no links to poultry or dairy cows.
The more mutations the virus acquires, experts argue, the higher the risk of it evolving to spread between people. This is particularly concerning as, historically, H5N1 strains have killed about 50 percent of the humans they infect.
FDA commissioner Dr Robert Califf warned earlier this month that the agency was preparing for if the virus does mutate in a way that allows it to 'jump into humans on a larger level' — although he said the risk was low.
There have also been concerns about the food supply, although officials say that milk and beef do not pose a risk of infection.
Bird flu fragments have been detected in milk, but officials say it is still safe to drink because of pasteurization — where milk is quickly heated and cooled — which effectively 'kills' the virus.
Tests on ground beef in grocery stores have not revealed any virus in the meat.
Bird flu virus samples have been found in tissue samples taken from one dairy cow sent to slaughter at a US meat processing plant, but officials pointed out the animal was already ill and would not have been used in the human food supply.