The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a health alert Friday, April 5, after a person in the US was infected with the H5N1 bird flu virus following "exposure to presumably infected dairy cattle."
According to the CDC, a commercial dairy farm worker in Texas tested positive for the virus after developing conjunctivitis in late March, but was not hospitalized and is recovering. Avian flu viruses had previously been reported in dairy cattle and wild birds in the area.
No other cases of human infection with H5N1 have been identified, but CDC data reveals that bird flu outbreaks have been detected in all but two US states since January 2022 — and more than 1,100 H5N1 outbreaks have been recorded across 513 counties so far.
The map below visualizes the number of H5N1 bird flu outbreaks reported in each affected county, as well as the flock size and type. The county with the most outbreaks is Lancaster, Pennsylvania, with 32 overall, followed by Sanpete, Utah, with 20.
Twenty-three counties have recorded H5N1 outbreaks this year so far:
- Barnstable, Massachusetts
- Charles, Maryland
- Dallas, Missouri
- Deaf Smith, Texas
- Delta, Colorado
- De Soto, Florida
- Duplin, North Carolina
- Essex, Massachusetts
- Gage, Nebraska
- Guilford, North Carolina
- Horry, South Carolina
- Kanawha, West Virginia
- Lenoir, North Carolina
- Mahoning, Ohio
- Moore, Texas
- Onondaga, New York
- Orangeburg, South Carolina
- Owyhee, Idaho
- Schuylkill, Pennsylvania
- Sherburne, Minnesota
- Stevens, Minnesota
- Washburn, Wisconsin
- Wayne, Pennsylvania
Via CDC.
