The United States health authorities reported this Friday that a case of avian flu was detected in a child residing in the state of California, which represents the first infection of a minor registered in the country.
The boy, whose age was not reported, is recovering from the illness, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.
The California Department of Public Health conducted an investigation into the possible source of the child’s exposure to H5N1, but so far it has not been identified.
All members of the minor’s household reported having symptoms, so samples were collected from each one, which tested negative for avian flu.
Read: US detects H5N1 avian flu in pigs for the first time
“Contact tracing continues, but there is currently no evidence of person-to-person spread of H5N1 avian influenza from this child to others,” the CDC said in a statement.
The case was detected through influenza tests and is the second discovered through the surveillance program for this virus in the United States.
Through the initiative, CDC continues to closely monitor available data, particularly in states affected by outbreaks in animals, including California, where widespread cases of H5N1 bird flu have been detected in wild birds and domestic poultry since 2022, as well as in dairy herds since August 2024 in that state.
Limited, sporadic human infections with the H5N1 avian influenza virus, in which no animal exposure was identified, are very rare but have occurred, primarily in countries other than the United States, the CDC said.
Including this most recent case, there have been 55 reported human cases of bird flu in the United States during 2024, 29 of them in the state of California.
Last April, the first case of H5N1 was detected in Texas, where a farm worker tested positive after being exposed to contaminated cows. The virus, identified as H5N1, is a subtype of avian flu that is highly contagious among birds. The CDC noted that so far there are no signs that this virus has evolved in a way that can spread quickly between people.
With information from EFE
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