The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) today announced that a dairy worker with mild symptoms who had contact with infected cows in the Central Valley has tested positive for H5N1 avian influenza in preliminary tests at a public health laboratory.
.jpg "California reports likely H5N1 infection in dairy worker 1")
The local health department was notified after the patient experienced conjunctivitis, which was the only symptom. In its emailed press release, the CDPH said the patient’s specimen will be sent to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for confirmatory testing.
If confirmed, the illness would bring the nation’s number of H5N1 infections since the first of the year to 15. Four earlier illnesses occurred in dairy workers, nine occurred in poultry cullers, and one was found in a Missouri patient who had no known animal exposure.
The patient is being treated with antiviral medication and is isolating at home.
Tomás J. Aragón, MD, DrPH, CDPH director and state public health officer, said, “Ongoing health checks of individuals who interact with potentially infected animals helped us quickly detect and respond to this possible human case. Fortunately, as we’ve seen in other states with human infections, the individual has experienced mild symptoms.”
H5N1 strikes 11 more California dairy herds
In related developments, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has confirmed 11 more H5N1 outbreaks in California dairy herds, boosting the national total to 255 across 14 states.
California, the nation’s largest dairy producer, has now reported 55 infected farms since September.
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