--- title: What We Know About the Latest Case of Bird Flu in a Person description: Health officials provide the latest details on the most recent case of bird flu reported in humans canonical: https://time.com/6974421/bird-flu-case-in-human/ author: Alice Park article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2024-05-03T17:47:37.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:50:28.402Z article:section: Health og:title: How a Dairy Worker Got Infected With Bird Flu og:description: Health officials provide the latest details on the most recent case of bird flu reported in humans. og:url: https://time.com/6974421/bird-flu-case-in-human/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdcca15d775629414/698a566747ca38c0f73bd7d1/GettyImages-1167749413.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2121 og:image:height: 1193 og:image:alt: GettyImages-1167749413.jpg og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How a Dairy Worker Got Infected With Bird Flu twitter:description: Health officials provide the latest details on the most recent case of bird flu reported in humans. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdcca15d775629414/698a566747ca38c0f73bd7d1/GettyImages-1167749413.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 video:duration: 02:05 video:published: 2024-04-04 section: health topics: avian flu, bird flu, cattle infection, poultry, virus mutation, human-to-human transmission, disease monitoring, virus sequencing, public health response, vaccine and treatment preparedness, agriculture and public health collaboration genre: news, interview tones: serious, measured, cautious, informative emotions: concern (medium), vigilance (high), reassurance (low) sentiment: neutral audience: general public, public health professionals, agriculture industry, news readers organizations: CDC content_suitability: health controversy [00:00-02:05] transcript_source: publisher captions transcript_reviewed: not applicable ---  # How a Dairy Worker Got Infected With Bird Flu > Sponsored content. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's weekday health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free weekday newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=0602b0e1-c414-45f9-b0af-721961edaef7&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Bird Flu Was Found in Chickens at the Largest U.S. Egg Producer [Watch (HLS stream): Bird Flu Was Found in Chickens at the Largest U.S. Egg Producer](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/PbLybli2.m3u8) (2:05)  _Published 2024-04-04. The largest producer of fresh eggs in the U.S. said Tuesday it had temporarily halted production at a Texas plant after bird flu was found in chickens, and officials said the virus had also been detected at a poultry facility in Michigan._ Description, summary, key points, chapters, key quotes, questions and transcript, where present, were produced automatically from the video or its captions and were not reviewed. ## Summary An official speaking on behalf of the CDC discusses the first detection of avian flu in cattle in the United States. The speaker says the virus is the same strain previously seen in chickens and is not new, but that infection in mammals raises the level of concern. The video explains what officials are watching for, including changes that could allow human-to-human spread. It also describes ongoing sequencing, monitoring and joint work between agriculture, public health, state and local partners. ## Key points - This is the first time avian flu has been seen in cattle and cows; it had previously been in chicken and poultry, where monitoring efforts have focused. (00:05) - Avian flu in cattle raises the concern level, and more work is needed to understand whether it is the same strain seen in chickens. (00:22) - The virus is not a new strain; it is known to officials, who have been studying it and preparing for avian flu for 20 years. (00:41) - Vaccine, treatment and testing work for avian flu has been under consideration for quite a number of years. (00:56) - Cows and other mammals acting as a reservoir give the virus new opportunity to change, which officials are watching closely. (01:06) - Officials are watching for changes that would make the virus more likely to spread from human to human. (01:14) - The United States has never had a documented case of human-to-human spread of avian flu. (01:23) - Viruses can change very quickly, so officials must sequence them, stay ahead and monitor closely, with agriculture and public health partners working as one team. (01:39) ## Chapters - [00:00 to 00:41] Avian flu detected in cattle. The speaker explains that avian flu in cattle is a first and raises concern, and that officials must determine whether the strain matches the one seen in chickens. - [00:41 to 01:23] Known virus, new opportunity to change. The speaker says the strain is not new and has been prepared for over 20 years, but mammal reservoirs could allow the virus to change. - [01:23 to 02:05] Human spread and monitoring response. The speaker notes no documented human-to-human spread in the U.S. and describes sequencing, monitoring and the joint agriculture and public health effort. ## Key quotes - [00:05] CDC official: "This is the first time we are seeing avian flu in cattle" - [00:41] CDC official: "So it's not a new strain of the virus." - [01:06] CDC official: "cows mammals being a reservoir give this virus new opportunity to change and that's what we're watching for really closely" - [01:23] CDC official: "The good news is right now in the United States, we've never had a documented case of human-to-human spread of avian flu" - [01:52] CDC official: "Our agriculture partners are on the grounds are our Public Health Partners are on the ground." ## Questions this video answers - Is this the first time avian flu has been seen in cattle? [00:05] - Is the avian flu seen in cattle a new strain of the virus? [00:41] - Why does the virus being in cows and other mammals raise concern? [01:06] - Has there been documented human-to-human spread of avian flu in the United States? [01:23] - What is being done to monitor and respond to the virus? [01:45] - How long have officials been preparing for avian flu? [00:43] ## Content suitability - health controversy [00:00-02:05]: Discussion of avian flu spreading to cattle and the possibility of the virus changing to spread between humans, framed as a monitored concern.  by [Alice Park](https://time.com/author/alice-park/)  ## Alice Park Senior Correspondent May 3, 2024 5:47 PM UTC  Milking cows by automatic industrial milking rotary system in modern diary farm. Milking cows by automatic industrial milking rotary system in modern diary farm. Getty Images—iStockphoto  by [Alice Park](https://time.com/author/alice-park/)  ## Alice Park Senior Correspondent May 3, 2024 5:47 PM UTC Bird flu, or avian influenza, can be deadly in birds but normally doesn’t infect people. Whilesome strains have caused serious disease and even death in humans, most cause relatively mild symptoms. In the U.S., two peoplehave been known to be infected with avian influenza: one person in 2022, and another earlier this year. In a report published Friday in the [_New England Journal of Medicine_](https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc2405371)—amid growing concern over infections jumping from birds to cows—health officials from the U.S.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Texas Department of State Health Services provide details on the latest human case. According to the report, a dairy farm worker in Texas developed redness and some drainage from his right eye in late March. Because the Texas Animal Health Commission and the U.S. Department of Agriculture had [reported](https://www.tahc.texas.gov/news/2024/2024-03-26%5FHPAI%5FDairies.pdf) at the end of March that bird flu viruses were detected in two Texas and two Kansas dairy farms, veterinarians in the area were alert for symptoms of infection in sick cows and in people. A vet referred the dairy worker for testing at a Texas Department of State Health Services field office, according to a spokesperson for the department. He did not develop any fever or difficulty breathing—which are among the potential symptoms of infection—and his vision remained normal. Dr. Scott Milton, a regional health director for the department,took swabs from the worker’s eyes and back of his throat, and these were analyzed at the Texas Tech Bioterrorism Response Laboratory in Lubbock, where preliminary results were positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI)A and A(H5). **Read More**: [_Is It Safe to Eat Eggs and Chicken During the Bird Flu Outbreak?_](https://time.com/6963860/bird-flu-eggs-chicken-food-safety/)[](https://jadserve.postrelease.com/trk?ntv%5Fat=3&ntv%5Fui=98616e33-e04f-4ce3-be76-03cf08b922e7&ntv%5Fa=OQUJASYZmA7icRA&ntv%5Ffl=DhSBNg40eLKu3JwiKFRCwBhj3nFvRxb1rY-j9IpVJLRFGht-f8%5F1fueWzYXVVORxEZdpPw4qwd5LyH8ifyBvvjIu3JiZGxYDclNiODoPmqKZOanIsa1dFJQIa5LJA0ns6XchWi23BX7-Zkb5TEidq0WRosrVDCDW0hucornyPnEds9KaO67dIRuCwQ3zrfO0RN5%5FMRfGxrzzMfqDjhBvdiO1RrhRZSwR%5FoZc5hxcr9kNd7VEH8dvxRSpEAWI9DuLHsBQUv9D4pS8OGbQ76kgfsXDIgsr7Ot8YSdBVhoQBNRJS8zSqCOyMUIOA38B0B9%5FVfLkZJrkKRwMVxV%5FIHs05yx4zf015iUHx3n7FgRVPqyFQcH09YlWg7o4Wn6o0hEYGLQl-aVKTp87CPHao2T3SzwqiT6aEAcbLcMyX22ix54CQ-u%5FguR2PNnG3WUn9gdOmrRi%5FumchN4EQoAVKa5fZLrCt%5F5ACxxsYyzRYwIHI9tzpMahI3DIAuliWnQwHNWBth7-G488xNoiTvu4yutsMg==&ord=-785933258&ntv%5Fht=CgYsZgA&ntv%5Ftad=16&prx%5Freferrer=https%3A%2F%2Ftime.com%2Fsection%2Fhealth%2F&ntv%5Fr=https://partners.time.com/partners/land-o-lakes/learn-more-about-the-cornerstones-of-rural-life-community-and-innovation/?prx%5Ft=OQUJASYZmA7icRA&utm%5Fcampaign=206157&ntv%5Fui=98616e33-e04f-4ce3-be76-03cf08b922e7&ntv%5Fht=CgYsZgA) Health officials advised the man to isolate at home and prescribed the antiviral drugoseltamivir for five days to him as well as to members of his household to protect them from infection. So far, there have not been reports of sustained spread of avian influenza from person to person, but the antiviral medications were prescribed in an abundance of caution. The redness in hiseyes resolved after several days, and the worker never developed any respiratory problems. Additional analysis of the worker’s samples by researchers at the CDC labs in Atlanta confirmed the specific type of avian influenza involved, HPAI 2.3.4.4b A(H5N1), which has recently been detected in bird and cattle populations. Such bird flu strains generally circulate among avian species, but there have been cases of human infections reported in 23 countries over the past 20 years, according to the newreport. Overall, the virus has a 50% mortality rate—but that could reflect a skewed population of people with more susceptible immune systems who are vulnerable to infection, since many cases lead to mild or no symptoms, or symptoms that aren't reported. The strain in the dairy worker was “closely related” to those found in dairy cattle and birds in Texas during that time, according to the _NEJM_ report. But the genetic analysis was a mixed bag of reassuring and concerning news. The strain that infected the dairy worker does have a change that helps it adapt to infecting mammals, including people. But it does not contain changes that would make it resistant to current antiviral treatments. The virus is also close enough to versions that researchers have used to create candidate vaccines that could be made available if the virus begins to spread from person to person, which has not happened yet. **Read More**: [_Experts Can't Agree If We're Still in a Pandemic_](https://time.com/6898943/is-covid-19-still-pandemic-2024/) Health officials from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) continue to test milk, cottage cheese, sour cream, and beef to monitor for the virus. While about [20% of milk](https://time.com/6971468/bird-flu-cows-experts/) sold in stores contains fragments of the avian influenza virus, those viruses are not active, according to the [latest FDA tests](https://www.fda.gov/food/alerts-advisories-safety-information/updates-highly-pathogenic-avian-influenza-hpai). The agency says that the pasteurization process is designed to kill viruses like HPAI, and therefore advises against consuming any unpasteurized dairy products, such as raw milk. ## Transcript [00:00] Regards to avian flu or or bird flu. [00:03] We are definitely taking this. [00:05] Seriously. This is the first time we are seeing avian flu in cattle [00:11] and cows and we haven't seen that previously obviously [00:15] had been in chicken poultry before and that is where are heavy [00:20] efforts have been in terms of monitoring. [00:22] So the fact that it is in cattle now is a definitely raises [00:28] Our concern level and we have to work to do to better understand [00:32] that the virus is the same strain of the virus that we have [00:38] seen in chickens in the past. [00:41] So it's not a new strain of the virus. [00:43] So this is known to us and we've been studying it and frankly [00:47] we've been preparing for avian flu for 20 years, [00:50] which is a completely novel or new virus avian flu is known [00:56] to us, and we've been thinking about vaccine And treatment [01:00] and test on for quite a number of years but this is a new [01:06] development cows mammals being a reservoir give this virus [01:11] new opportunity to change and that's what we're watching [01:14] for really closely has this virus changed or is it changing [01:20] that would make it more likely to spread from human-to-human. [01:23] The good news is right now in the United States, [01:27] we've never had a documented case of human-to-human [01:30] spread of avian flu, but that's what we're watching for me to [01:35] understand how this virus is changing today. [01:37] It's the same version of the virus, [01:39] but as we've all learned through covid these viruses change [01:45] very quickly. So we are our meeting to watch it closely. [01:48] We have to sequence these we have to stay ahead of it and we're [01:50] monitoring and taking this very closely. [01:52] Our agriculture partners are on the grounds are our Public Health [01:56] Partners are on the ground. [01:57] They're just state and local [02:00] are one team and that is what we've been working on very closely [02:03] at CDC to be that one team. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6974421/bird-flu-case-in-human/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6974421/bird-flu-case-in-human/"},"headline":"How a Dairy Worker Got Infected With Bird Flu","datePublished":"2024-05-03T17:47:37.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:50:28.402Z","description":"Health officials provide the latest details on the most recent case of bird flu reported in humans.","url":"https://time.com/6974421/bird-flu-case-in-human/","keywords":["Public Health","healthscienceclimate"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdcca15d775629414/698a566747ca38c0f73bd7d1/GettyImages-1167749413.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alice Park","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/alice-park/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdcca15d775629414/698a566747ca38c0f73bd7d1/GettyImages-1167749413.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"GettyImages-1167749413.jpg","caption":"","creditText":"Getty Images—iStockphoto","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/public-health/","name":"Public Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/6974421/bird-flu-case-in-human/","name":"How a Dairy Worker Got Infected With Bird Flu"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Bird Flu Was Found in Chickens at the Largest U.S. Egg Producer","description":"The largest producer of fresh eggs in the U.S. said Tuesday it had temporarily halted production at a Texas plant after bird flu was found in chickens, and officials said the virus had also been detected at a poultry facility in Michigan.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/PbLybli2/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2024-04-04T14:07:19.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/PbLybli2.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/6974421/bird-flu-case-in-human/","duration":"PT2M5S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/6974421/bird-flu-case-in-human/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```