Health officials identified three contacts, including two healthcare workers, who were closely monitored after a bird flu patient in Missouri was recently hospitalized.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shared Friday that two healthcare workers and one household contact were linked to Missouri’s first bird avian influenza A patient.
The CDC adds that the simultaneous development of symptoms in two contacts “does not support person-to-person spread but suggests a common exposure.”
The patient, an adult not identified by name, age, or gender, was hospitalized on Aug. 22. Public health officials sent a specimen from a patient upon hospitalization, then confirmed the first H5 human case in Missouri on Sept. 6.
H5 is primarily found in wild birds and poultry, and recently in dairy cows and other animals, and can occasionally infect humans through close contact with infected animals or contaminated environments.
According to the CDC, the Missouri case was the 15th human case of H5 reported in the U.S. since 2022.
Following its latest update, the CDC recommends that people should avoid exposures to sick or dead animals, including wild birds, poultry, other domesticated birds, and other wild or domesticated animals (including cows), if possible.
More details on the story can be found on the Ozarks First Website.
(Story by Joey Schneider, Ozarks First)
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