Federal and state health officials said they have confirmed a third human case of bird flu in California and identified an additional two new possible cases.
The case was identified in a Central Valley dairy farm worker who had contact with infected cattle, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Thursday. To date, all three California cases occurred in dairy workers from three different farms with no known contact with each other.
In all three cases, symptoms were mild and involved red, bloodshot eyes — a sign of conjunctivitis. None of the three cases included hospitalization.
The California Department of Health said it has also identified two new possible human cases in the Central Valley, which is the state’s agricultural hub.
The identification of the bird flu virus in people with exposure to infected animals is not unexpected, the CDC said, and it does not change the agency’s risk assessment for the general public, which continues to be low.
Outbreaks of H5N1 bird flu among California dairy herds were first reported in August. Since then, more than 90 herds in the state have been affected by bird flu , according to the latest update from the Department of Agriculture.