logo
Bird flu case with "flu-like symptoms" hospitalized in Colorado

Bird flu case with "flu-like symptoms" hospitalized in Colorado

CBS News15-02-2025

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed a third U.S. bird flu hospitalization, Wyoming's health department said Friday, after a woman was admitted to a healthcare facility in neighboring Colorado.
The patient was experiencing "flu-like symptoms" and had "health conditions that can make people more vulnerable to illness," Wyoming's health department said. She was likely exposed to the H5N1 virus through direct contact to an infected poultry flock at her home.
"Our staff has followed up with other people who had contact with the flock and the patient, and will continue working with state and national experts to monitor the situation carefully for Wyoming," Dr. Alexia Harrist, Wyoming's state health officer, said in a statement.
It is unclear how many people in Colorado may have been exposed to the bird flu case while traveling in the state. A spokesperson for Colorado's health department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The patient was a resident of Wyoming's Platte County, the state's health department said. The Wyoming Livestock Board recently confirmed three backyard flocks infected by the virus, including in Platte County.
Those flocks were infected by B3.13, state veterinarian Hallie Hasel tells CBS News. It is unclear whether the human bird flu patient in Colorado was also infected by B3.13.
A spokesperson for the CDC, which usually studies and sequences worrying bird flu cases, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Health experts had thought that B3.13 strain might be less severe for people infected. That is different from the D1.1 strain that was behind a bird flu death in Louisiana last month and a hospitalization of a child in Canada last year.
The first U.S. bird flu hospitalization was reported in Missouri last year, sickened by B3.13, but health officials at the time said that person was likely hospitalized for other reasons and had incidentally tested positive for the virus.
The hospitalization comes just days after bird flu cases were also confirmed in people in Nevada and Ohio.
The Nevada patient was not hospitalized and only had mild symptoms, local health officials have said. Ohio's health department has not commented on the status of their bird flu case, despite repeated requests.
Health and agriculture departments also announced Friday another raw pet food recall linked to spread of the virus to cats in Oregon, and a second spillover of the D1.1 virus from birds into cows in Arizona.
Before Friday's case, there had been 68 human cases of bird flu confirmed by the CDC. Most have been linked to direct exposure to sick animals, though investigators have been unable to identify a source for three cases so far.
The uptick in bird flu cases comes amid an ongoing surge of seasonal influenza that is at record highs nationwide in emergency rooms and hospitals, above peaks seen during the 2009 swine flu pandemic.
Data from testing laboratories suggests it is the usual seasonal variants of the virus driving the surge, not human-to-human spread of a bird flu strain.
The CDC said Friday that those seasonal strains of the virus had driven influenza levels to some of the highest peaks in years, marking the first "high severity" season declared by the agency since 2017.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Kennedy names 8 vaccine committee replacements, including COVID shot critic
Kennedy names 8 vaccine committee replacements, including COVID shot critic

Yahoo

time29 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

Kennedy names 8 vaccine committee replacements, including COVID shot critic

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Wednesday named eight new vaccine policy advisers to replace the panel that he abruptly dismissed earlier this week. They include a scientist who researched mRNA vaccine technology and transformed into a conservative darling for his criticisms of COVID-19 vaccines, and a leading critic of pandemic-era lockdowns. Kennedy's decision to 'retire' the previous 17-member panel was widely decried by doctors' groups and public health organizations, who feared the advisers would be replaced by a group aligned with Kennedy's desire to reassess — and possibly end — longstanding vaccination recommendations. The new appointees to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices include Dr. Robert Malone, the former mRNA researcher who emerged as a close adviser to Kennedy during the measles outbreak. Malone, who runs a wellness institute and a popular blog, rose to popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic as he relayed conspiracy theories around the outbreak and the vaccines that followed. He has appeared on podcasts and other conservative news outlets where he's promoted unproven and alternative treatments for measles and COVID-19. He has claimed that millions of Americans were hypnotized into taking the COVID-19 shots. He's even suggested that those vaccines cause a form of AIDS. He's downplayed deaths related to one of the largest measles outbreaks in the U.S. in years. Other appointees include Dr. Martin Kulldorff, a biostatistician and epidemiologist who was a co-author of the Great Barrington Declaration, an October 2020 letter maintaining that pandemic shutdowns were causing irreparable harm. Dr. Cody Meissner, a former ACIP member, also was named. Kennedy made the announcement in a social media post on Wednesday. The committee, created in 1964, makes recommendations to the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CDC directors almost always approve those recommendations on how Food and Drug Administration-cleared vaccines should be used. The CDC's final recommendations are widely heeded by doctors and determine the scope of vaccination programs. ___ Associated Press reporter Amanda Seitz contributed to this report. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

HHS reinstates more than 450 CDC employees fired in April reorganization
HHS reinstates more than 450 CDC employees fired in April reorganization

CNN

timean hour ago

  • CNN

HHS reinstates more than 450 CDC employees fired in April reorganization

Federal agencies Health care policyFacebookTweetLink Follow The US Department of Health and Human Services is reinstating more than 450 employees at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who were fired as part of a massive reorganization in April, including workers focused on HIV, lead exposure and workplace safety. More than 200 employees had their firings rescinded at the CDC's National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD and Tuberculosis Prevention, along with 158 at the National Center for Environmental Health, an HHS spokesperson confirmed. Another 71 were brought back in the Office of the Director and two dozen more at the Global Health Center. The reinstatements represent almost 20% of the 2,400 CDC employees who HHS said it was dismissing in a mass Reduction in Force, or RIF, in April. The cuts also affected employees across the US Food and Drug Administration, the US National Institutes of Health and the US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, but an HHS spokesperson said Wednesday's reinstatements applied only to employees at the CDC. 'Under Secretary Kennedy's leadership, the nation's critical public health functions remain intact and effective,' HHS Director of Communications Andrew Nixon said in a statement. 'The Trump Administration is committed to protecting essential services – whether it's supporting coal miners and firefighters through NIOSH, safeguarding public health through lead prevention, or researching and tracking the most prevalent communicable diseases. 'HHS is streamlining operations without compromising mission-critical work,' he continued. 'Enhancing the health and well-being of all Americans remains our top priority.' The cuts had wiped out the CDC's Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention and Surveillance Branch as it was in the midst of helping the city of Milwaukee address a lead exposure crisis in its public schools. The firings meant the CDC had to deny a request from the city for specialists to help.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store