US health officials said there has been a second case of a person becoming infected with the bird flu, or H5N1, virus despite not having contact with poultry or dairy cows. According to reports, the man had shared a home with a patient who was first admitted to the hospital due to bird flu in August. However, antibody tests showed that symptomatic healthcare workers who cared for the patient were not infected with the H5N1 virus, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in its latest bird flu update.

The CDC said that according to the investigation, the original hospital patient, as well as the second person, had similar symptoms because the same dates support a single general exposure to bird flu rather than person-to-person spread within the household.

“To date, no human-to-human spread of H5 bird flu has been identified in the United States,” the agency said. “CDC believes the immediate risk to the general public from H5N1 bird flu is low, but the risk of infection among people who come into contact with infected animals is high.”

number of Bird flu cases are increasing in humans

The number of human cases of bird flu associated with livestock has increased significantly across the United States. Recently, California confirmed at least 16 cases of avian influenza — a viral infection that causes serious respiratory problems. Additionally, Washington state has reported two poultry workers infected with the bug and five others have been considered positive.

Except for two in Missouri, all infections so far have been linked to contact with infected poultry or cattle.

So far, both investigators and experts are unaware of how the Missouri patient and household member became infected. Officials said they had not come in contact with infected animals and had not consumed raw milk products that may have contained the virus.

The latest cases have fueled growing concern among public health experts that the bird flu outbreak that is sickening dairy cows and poultry will eventually trigger human-to-human transmission of the virus.

Since the disease was first confirmed in dairy cows in March this year, more than 338 dairy livestock across about 14 states have been infected. Avian influenza is spreading among wild and domestic birds in the United States. “We should be very concerned at this point,” said Dr. James Lawler, co-director of the University of Nebraska’s Global Center for Health Security. new York Times“Nobody should panic right now, but we should really put a lot of resources into figuring out what’s going on.”

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