Nobody panic. But one of 27 human cases of avian flu to date in California has turned up in Alameda County, in a child.
The state health department announced Tuesday that a child has tested positive for bird flu (H5N1) in Alameda County, and was showing mild respiratory symptoms. The child is reportedly recovering at home, and no other family members have tested postitive — confirming that, to date, there have been no documented human-to-human transmissions of bird flu in the US.
The California Department of Public Health believes that the child may have been exposed to wild birds, and then caught the virus through contact with the child's eyes, mouth, or nose.
The age of the child was not shared.
"The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) is working with local public health officials and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to investigate the cause of the initialpositive test in the child," the department said in a statement. "The positive test showed a low-level detection of the virus, indicating the child was not likely infectious to others. Repeat bird flu testing on the child four days later was negative, and additional testing shows the child was also positive for respiratory viruses that could be the cause of their cold and flusymptoms."
The department stressed that there was no indication of a larger outbreak, and that bird flu infections in humans are rare.
"Limited and sporadic human infections with bird flu where there is not clear route of exposure or infection are expected and have occurred in the past and during the outbreak public health officials have been monitoring since 2022," the department says.
California has reported 27 cases of bird flu in humans since early October, most of which have been mild cases, primarily presenting as eye infections. All of these cases have been linked to direct contact with dairy cows.
Below, the CDC's diagram of how it's spreading.
The health department is strongly encouraging all Calfornia farm workers to get an annual flu shot this year. They note that while the shot will not protect against H5N1, it will prevent a severe infection of human influenza, which has the potential to combine with H5N1 in the body to create new viruses that spread more easily. Fun!
“It's natural for people to be concerned, and we want to reinforce for parents, caregivers and families that based on the information and data we have, we don't think the child was infectious — and no human-to-human spread of bird flu has been documented in any country for more than 15 years," says CDPH Director and State Public Health Officer Dr. Tomás Aragón, in a statement.
Photo: Jordan Whitt
