Fourth human case of bird flu diagnosed in Colorado dairy farm worker
WASHINGTON — Public health officials have diagnosed a Colorado farm worker with the country’s fourth human case of highly pathogenic avian influenza, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the state’s department of health reported July 3.The Colorado case, the state’s first this year related to spread from dairy cattle to humans, was reported after an adult man working on a farm in the northeast region of the state experienced conjunctivitis or pink eye.The unidentified man, who has since recovered, was being monitored by public health officials after dairy cattle on the farm he worked on tested positive for H5N1, or bird flu.Rachel Herlihy, an epidemiologist with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, wrote in a statement announcing the diagnosis that the “risk to most people remains low.”“Avian flu viruses are currently spreading among animals, but they are not adapted to spread from person to person,” Herlihy wrote in the statement.