Three more individuals in Washington state have tested positive for bird flu, adding to the 39 U.S. cases reported this year, according to health authorities in Washington and Oregon.
All infected individuals are farm workers, except for one person in Missouri, with recent cases linked to exposure while cleaning facilities at a chicken farm affected by the virus.
The virus, which has decimated over 100 million poultry birds in the ongoing outbreak, recently spread to swine, marking the first U.S. detection of H5N1 bird flu in pigs on a backyard farm in Oregon, as confirmed by the USDA.
While officials monitored and isolated symptomatic individuals, including those showing signs such as red eyes and respiratory issues, Oregon’s health department reported that no infections have spread among the general population, noting that human-to-human transmission has not been observed.
Authorities continue to assess the situation and maintain that the risk to the public remains low.