Bird Flu Cases Increase in United States
Bird Flu Cases Increase in United States. Credit | REUTERS

Health Alert: Concerns Rise as Bird Flu Cases Increase in United States

United States: With every passing day, the concerns and worries related to bird flu have been increasing in the United States. Recently, the federal health agency – the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued a health alert and informed the clinics and local state departments about the increase in the number of cases of avian influenza.

According to various reports, the health advisory was also given to the general public of the United States as a precautionary measure against the infection. According to the details, the health advisory has been shared by the agency after a second human case linked to the flu was reported.

As per the health advisories, the case was reported in a person who came into the contact with dairy cows in Texas. As per the authorities, the infected person was a worker on a commercial dairy farm who initially developed conjunctivitis and then was tested positive for bird flu.

 While further sharing the update, the experts mentioned that the infection was transferred from daily cows to humans through milk in Texas and Kansas.

Details for the latest case!

The latest case has been counted as the second human case linked to the bird flu virus in the United States; the first-ever case was reported in the year 2022 in Colorado.

Bird Flu – A threat to the general public?

Visual Representation. Credit | REUTERS

According to the CDC, currently the infection poses a low risk to the public. However, the health agency has also highlighted that if the spread of the disease continued to spread, then there are high chances of higher risk. In addition to this, the authorities mentioned that an individual must take appropriate precautions to avoid the further spread.

The official stats have mentioned that more than 900 sporadic human cases of bird flu have been reported in around 23 countries, since 1997. Further, the CDC highlighted that more than half of the 900 cases resulted in death. However, the health experts also highlighted that the number of cases among humans decreased in 2015 and 2016 but the cases witnessed an upsurge in 2022, worldwide.

It is to be noted that the fatality rate of the infection among humans is high, and the rate among birds with the disease is around 100 percent.

Symptoms experienced by humans!

The health experts have mentioned that the symptoms experienced by an individual might range between no symptoms to mild symptoms. The mild symptoms might look similar to common-flu like symptoms such as cough, shortness of breath, fever, headache, chills, fatigue and runny nose.

The most common way of detecting Avian influenza is through laboratory testing.

Precautionary measures to be followed!

With an increasing number of cases, the health authorities have mentioned that as a precautionary measure, the general public must use protective gear and should wash their hands frequently.