California Child Diagnosed with Bird Flu Despite No Known Contact with Infected Animals

California health officials on Tuesday reported the potential case of bird flu in a child with mild symptoms.


The child is from Alameda County in the San Francisco Bay Area and was confirmed positive despite having no contact with an infected animal.


In a news release from the California Department of Public Health officials, further investigations are being conducted to determine if the child came into contact with any wild birds. It is regarded as a 'possible' case until the positive test is verified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.


Fifty-three people this year have been reported with bird flu in the U.S., according to the CDC. All except one were in contact with infected chickens or milk cows.


The health department announced that the child had some mild upper respiratory symptoms and is currently undergoing recovery at home after treatment. There was no evidence of human-to-human transmission of the virus, and the child's household members were tested negative for the virus. Four days following the diagnosis of his illness, the child was tested for bird flu and found negative.


Ever since 2022, the bird flu has been on an uncontrollable rise among poultry, which has been recorded as the worst such outbreak in poultry in the U.S. over the years. Over 108 million birds have either been infected, slaughtered, or depopulated in total. Cases in dairy cattle started to appear in March this year and have been confirmed across 15 states. The virus was also detected in a pig for the first time the previous month.


Seven states have confirmed cases in humans, mostly among farm laborers, and last week, Oregon reported its first human case. Nevertheless, such infections remain uncommon, and health authorities argue that the threat level to the general population is very low.


In the scenario involving the Californian child, viruses that also invade the respiratory system in children were similarly positive at the same time, and therefore, health officials indicated that those viruses may have caused the child's symptoms instead.