US officials alarmed as man catches bird flu virus without animal contact

In a concerning development igniting concerns about potential human-to-human transmission of the bird flu virus, a United States resident recently tested positive without ever coming into contact with an animal. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)said Friday (Sep 6) that the person from the US state ofMissouri has completely recovered and discharged from the hospital. Despite recent concerns, the CDC is still treating the risk as “low” at the moment.

The Missouri resident is the 14th person to be infected with the virus in the US this year. The first 13 patients were reportedly employed on farms having infected cattle or poultry.

The man was hospitalised on August 22 and was treated with an antiviral medication after a flu test turned positive. Further tests confirmed that the man was infected with H5N1, said the CDC. It was still not clear how the patient got infected and how severe the case was.

Notably, the virus has a high mortality rate of about 50 per cent worldwide, even though some cases with mild symptoms may go unnoticed.

The CDC is now analysing whether the Missouri resident has been infected with the same strain that infected patients on the farms. If the strain is found to be the same, it would mean that there has to be a chain of transmission, either through animals or humans.

Meanwhile, the persons who came into contact with the Missouri patient remained asymptomatic and didn’t transfer the virus to anybody.

Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, was quoted as saying by USA Today that “the Missouri patient most likely caught a different strain of the virus after coming into close contact with an infected migratory bird.”

Late summer is when many birds are migrating, he said, so "this is the season we're going to see that virus moving."

US health officials are concerned because there is no immunity among the people to H5 flu viruses despite catching the seasonal flu earlier or getting vaccinated.

(With inputs from agencies)