Oregon Detects Its First Human Case of Bird Flu

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed on Friday that an Oregon resident had tested positive for avian influenza, marking the state’s first human case of bird flu.
Clackamas County Public Health officer Dr. Sarah Present said the patient experienced mild illness and has fully recovered. The patient’s household contacts also received treatment to prevent further transmission.
“Clackamas County Public Health Division has been closely monitoring people exposed to the animal outbreak, which is how this case was identified,” Present said in the statement.
State health officials said that there has been no evidence of person-to-person transmission, and the risk of avian flu to the general public remains low.
The Oregon Department of Agriculture said it will monitor people exposed to infected animals and has provided personal protective equipment and training to affected farmworkers as safety measures.
“While we cannot prevent every case, we know that we are preventing many,” Dr. Dean Sidelinger, health officer and state epidemiologist at OHA, said in the statement.
It stated that the infected pig was on a farm that houses a mix of poultry and livestock. The infected pig and four others on the property were euthanized to allow for further diagnostic analysis to test for the virus.
The USDA has assured that there is no concern about the safety of the nation’s pork supply, noting that the farm is a non-commercial operation and the animals were not intended for the commercial food supply.