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Health Alert Network (HAN). Provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Summary
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is issuing this Health Alert Network (HAN) Health Advisory to inform clinicians, state health departments, and the public of a recently confirmed human infection with highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) A(H5N1) virus in the United States following exposure to presumably infected dairy cattle. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently reported detections of highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N1) virus in U.S. dairy cattle in multiple states. This Health Advisory also includes a summary of interim CDC recommendations for preventing, monitoring, and conducting public health investigations of potential human infections with HPAI A(H5N1) virus.
Background
A farm worker on a commercial dairy farm in Texas developed conjunctivitis on approximately March 27, 2024, and subsequently tested positive for HPAI A(H5N1) virus infection. HPAI A(H5N1) viruses have been reported in the area’s dairy cattle and wild birds. There have been no previous reports of the spread of HPAI viruses from cows to humans. The patient reported conjunctivitis with no other symptoms, was not hospitalized, and is recovering. The patient was recommended to isolate and received antiviral treatment with oseltamivir. Illness has not been identified in the patient’s household members, who received oseltamivir for post-exposure prophylaxis per CDC Recommendations for Influenza Antiviral Treatment and Chemoprophylaxis. No additional cases of human infection with HPAI A(H5N1) virus associated with the current infections in dairy cattle and birds in the United States, and no human-to-human transmission of HPAI A(H5N1) virus have been identified.
CDC has sequenced the influenza virus genome identified in a specimen collected from the patient and compared it with HPAI A(H5N1) sequences from cattle, wild birds, and poultry. While minor changes were identified in the virus sequence from the patient specimen compared to the viral sequences from cattle, both cattle and human sequences lack changes that would make them better adapted to infect mammals. In addition, there were no markers known to be associated with influenza antiviral drug resistance found in the virus sequences from the patient’s specimen, and the virus is closely related to two existing HPAI A(H5N1) candidate vaccine viruses that are already available to manufacturers, and which could be used to make vaccine if needed. This patient is the second person to test positive for HPAI A(H5N1) virus in the United States. The first case was reported in April 2022 in Colorado in a person who had contact with poultry that was presumed to be infected with HPAI A(H5N1) virus. Currently, HPAI A(H5N1) viruses are circulating among wild birds in the United States, with associated outbreaks among poultry and backyard flocks and sporadic infections in mammals....
