Child diagnosed with bird flu in California recovers safely
The first case of bird flu in a child has been confirmed in the United States. Health services in California have implemented preventive measures for everyone who has had contact with the young patient—his immediate family, as well as staff and children at the nursery he attends.
The first case of bird flu in a child has been identified in the United States. The patient is from Alameda County in the San Francisco Bay Area. There is no threat to his life, and he is recovering at home after taking antiviral medication.
California's health services have conducted preventive tests among those who had contact with the child. This included family members, employees, and children of the nursery. All test results were negative.
Medical services reassure the public
The initial test indicated a low level of the virus, suggesting that the child was not in a state to transmit it to others. A follow-up test, conducted four days later, returned negative. The director of the California Department of Public Health (CDPH), Tomas Aragon, reassures that there is no risk of the child infecting others.
"It’s natural for people to be concerned, and we want to reinforce for parents, caregivers and families that based on the information and data we have, we don’t think the child was infectious," said CDPH Director Tomas Aragon, adding that "no human-to-human spread of bird flu has been documented in any country for more than 15 years."
Bird flu pandemic in the USA
In March this year, a bird flu outbreak among birds and cattle occurred in the USA. The H5N1 virus has been monitored by health services since 2022. By 2024, 55 cases of human infection were reported, 29 of which were in California.
At the start of April in Texas, United States, a case of bird flu infection from infected dairy cattle was reported. This was the first instance of AH5N1 virus transmission between a human and another mammal, as noted by the New Scientist portal. The infected person experienced the illness very mildly, suffering only from conjunctivitis.
The number of bird flu cases is rising
The CDC stresses that the risk to the general public is low, although it is higher for those working with animals. On rare occasions, the virus is transmitted between humans, but it typically requires close contact with an infected person.
Since its first appearance in 1996, the bird flu (AH5N1) virus has progressively become more common, and since 2020 the number of infections in birds and mammals has significantly increased. This strain has led to the death of tens of millions of farmed birds as well as affecting wild birds and land and marine mammals.
