Four additional healthcare workers in Missouri who had contact with a hospitalized patient infected with bird flu developed mild respiratory symptoms but the virus was not confirmed in any of them, U.S. health officials said Friday.
Missouri patient had no known contact with infected animals
Four additional healthcare workers in Missouri who had contact with a hospitalized patient infected with bird flu developed mild respiratory symptoms but the virus was not confirmed in any of them, U.S. health officials said on Friday.
In total, six healthcare workers who came in contact with the Missouri patient developed symptoms so far.
Only one of them was tested negative for the virus via a PCR test, while the blood samples of others have been sent for antibody testing, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
“These cases underscore the need to take this outbreak more seriously than it has been taken,” said Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.
Results from the antibody testing need to be promptly obtained to assess the risk of human-to-human spread of the virus, Adalja said.
Unlike prior U.S. bird flu cases this year, the Missouri patient had no known contact with infected animals, raising concerns the virus currently circulating in dairy cattle may have mutated in a way that makes it spread more easily in people.
There are 14 confirmed cases of bird flu in humans reported in the United States since April 2024.