(TotalConservative.com) – A Michigan ranch hand is the second person in the country to be infected with a recent variant of the avian flu. The farmer worked on a dairy farm and caught the bug from cattle who can also carry the disease.
He’s recovered without further transmission to his immediate family, suggesting that the disease is still only capable of hopping to humans on an individual basis from infected livestock. Officials are concerned however that the incident betrays the second time the H5N1 virus, a specific type of bird flu, hopped species in the past few months.
Michigan’s head doctor, Natasha Bagdasarian, suggested that threat to the public remains low and highlighted that farm workers and other folks who live and work on poultry or dairy farms are the most likely to get sick from the virus. Both individuals who came down with the disease experienced mild to moderate symptoms and recovered after antiviral treatment.
The USDA confirmed there were 51 different outbreaks of the illness across the U.S. among different cattle herds. They pointed out that it typically kills birds and while it infects cattle it causes less severe illness. Nonetheless the impact has reduced dairy output for the year when compared with previous years. They said that the last time someone came down with bird flu was in 2022.
Michigan officials suggested fewer non-essential trips to the farm, including field trips and tours. They also recommended the use of personal protective equipment when working closely with livestock.
The USDA said that the beef supply is safe, despite the outbreak. Any meat that came from infected animals would be purified by the cooking process. They added that the virus occurs in higher levels in infected raw milk, a frequent favorite target that the government has been trying to clamp down on. In the history of raw milk production, there’s never been a case of bird flu connected to consumption, despite the claims.
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