A Louisiana resident has contracted the country’s first severe case of highly pathogenic avian influenza in a human, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Wednesday.

The unidentified person is believed to have been infected with the virus through sick or dead birds on their property that were not part of a commercial poultry flock, though federal public health officials declined to provide more details on a call with reporters, citing patient confidentiality. The virus is also called bird flu, or H5N1.

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“Previously, the majority of cases of H5N1 in the United States presented with mild illness, such as conjunctivitis and mild respiratory symptoms, and fully recovered,” Demetre Daskalakis, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the CDC, said during the call.

“Over the 20-plus years of global experience with this virus, H5 infection has previously been associated with severe illness in other countries, including illnesses that resulted in death in up to 50 percent of cases,” Daskalakis said. “The demonstrated potential for this virus to cause severe illness in people continues to highlight the importance of the joint, coordinated U.S. federal response, the One Health response, to address the current animal outbreaks in dairy cows and poultry and limit the potential of transmission of this virus to humans through animal contact.”

Ten Colorado farm workers have tested positive for H5N1 avian influenza since the state's first confirmed casein July, according to health officials. Nine were exposed to the virus at poultry farms, and the 10th contracted the virus from dairy cattle.

The Colorado Department of Agriculture is leading the state's response.

Despite the Louisiana case, Daskalakis said on the call, the CDC believes the threat to the general public remains low.

The Louisiana Department of Health wrote in a press release posted Friday that the person lives in the southwestern region of the state and was hospitalized, but didn’t provide additional information.

Emma Herrock, communications director for the Louisiana Department of Health, told States Newsroom in an email Wednesday the “patient is experiencing severe respiratory illness related to H5N1 infection and is currently hospitalized in critical condition.”

The patient, she said, “is reported to have underlying medical conditions and is over the age of 65.”

61 confirmed cases in humans

The CDC has confirmed 61 human cases of H5N1 throughout nine states this year, but the Louisiana patient is the first severe case of bird flu in someone within the United States.

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Daskalakis declined to say during the call why the Louisiana case is considered severe when a Missouri resident who was hospitalized due to bird flu was not classified the same way.

The Missouri patient, who was admitted to a hospital in August, had significant underlying medical conditions, according to public health officials. That person experienced “acute symptoms of chest pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and weakness,” according to the CDC.

The CDC declined to say Wednesday what symptoms the Louisiana patient was experiencing, citing privacy concerns.

Bird flu has affected wild birds and poultry flocks throughout the United States for years, but it wasn’t until March that dairy cattle began becoming infected with the virus.

The dairy outbreak has affected 865 herds through 16 states this year, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. There have been 315 new cases in dairy cattle during the last month, with the vast majority of those diagnoses in California, while one herd each tested positive in Nevada and Texas.

Bird flu has affected nearly 124 million poultry throughout 49 states, according to USDA.

Milk testing

Eric Deeble, deputy under secretary for marketing and regulatory programs at USDA, said on the call the nationwide milk testing strategy launched earlier this month has expanded to several states.

The program requires anyone responsible for a dairy farm — such as a bulk milk transporter, bulk milk transfer station, or dairy processing facility — to share unpasteurized or raw milk samples when requested.

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California, Colorado, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Vermont and Washington are the 13 states currently enrolled in the program, he said.

In California, Governor Gavin Newsom on Wednesday proclaimed a state of emergency “to further enhance the state’s preparedness & accelerate the ongoing cross-agency response efforts,” the governor’s press office said.

“These states represent a geographically conversant list of states, some of which have been affected by H5N1 in dairy cows, and some of which have never detected the disease,” Deeble said. “Additionally, these first two groups of states represent eight of the top 15 dairy-producing states in the country, accounting for nearly 50 percent of U.S. dairy production. We anticipate continuing to enroll additional states in the coming weeks.”

The USDA also continues to have a voluntary bulk milk testing program for any farms planning to ship dairy cattle across state lines to provide an easier pathway to establishing the herd is negative for H5N1, instead of having to test each cow individually.

Colorado Newsline is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Colorado Newsline maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Quentin Young for questions: info@coloradonewsline.com.