By Tom Polansek
CHICAGO (Reuters) – Bird flu has infected three more people from Washington state after they were exposed to poultry that tested positive for the virus, according to health authorities in Washington and Oregon, where the human cases were identified.
A total of 39 people have tested positive in the U.S. this year, including nine from Washington, as the virus has infected poultry flocks and spread to more than 400 dairy farms, federal data shows. All cases involved farm workers who had had contact with infected animals, except for one person in Missouri.
Washingtonians cleaned facilities at a contaminated chicken farm after birds were culled to contain the virus, the Washington State Department of Health said in an email Thursday.
Officials tested workers who had symptoms, including red eyes and breathing problems, and those who may have been exposed to the birds, the department said. People with symptoms were told to self-isolate and were given antiviral treatment, it added.
Oregon identified the three new cases after the people traveled to the state from Washington while infected, the Oregon Health Authority said in a statement Thursday. They have since returned to Washington where public health staff are monitoring them, the statement said.
There have been no infections among people living in Oregon and no evidence of human-to-human transmission, the Oregon Health Authority said. It said the risk of infection for the general public remains low.
Since 2022, the virus has wiped out more than 100 million poultry birds in the country’s worst-ever bird flu outbreak.
H5N1 bird flu was confirmed in a pig at a backyard farm in Oregon, the first detection of the virus in pigs in the country, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said Wednesday.
