Louisiana, United States
A state of emergency was declared by California Governor Gavin Newsom in response to the widespread bird flu in the dairy cattle.
The declaration comes as California has become the outbreak's epicentre. In the last 30 days, California has tested positive more than 300 dairy herds.
"This proclamation is a targeted action to ensure government agencies have the resources and flexibility they need," said Newsom, in the statement.
"While the risk to the public remains low, we will continue to take all necessary steps to prevent the spread of this virus," he added.
US reports first severe human case of bird flu
The first severe human case of bird flu was reported by the United States on Wednesday (Dec 18).
Also Read: United States reports first severe case of bird flu in human, says CDC
The patient was a resident of Louisiana and was hospitalised in critical condition after getting infected most probably by a backyard flock.
The symptoms showed increased risks from the virus which had earlier caused conjunctivitis or eye redness in farm workers, who had got infected by the bird flu.
The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said that the general public is at less risk of getting infected by H5N1 bird flu.
Since April, the CDC confirmed 61 human cases, most of which were workers working on dairy farms which had cattle infected by the virus. The workers who culled the infected poultry also tested positive.
The Louisiana patient has been in critical condition and is suffering from severe respiratory illness, said the Louisiana Department of Health, in a statement.
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The department said that the person is over the age of 65 and reportedly suffered from underlying medical conditions which was putting him at higher risk.
Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security's senior scholar Amesh Adalja said, "The mild cases that we’ve seen in the United States largely reflect that many of the individuals are getting infected by dairy cows and that’s very different than getting infected with infected birds."
“If you look at the genotype of this patient in Louisiana, it wasn’t the cattle strain. It was a wild bird strain," he added.
Since March, 860 dairy herds in 16 states have been infected by the bird flu and 123 million poultry have been killed. The outbreak started in 2022.
(With inputs from agencies)