Bird flu cases are likely being missed in dairy workers, experts say

NBC News— Dr. Barb Petersen, a dairy veterinarian in Amarillo, Texas, had been caring for sick cows for several weeks in March when she and a colleague finally pinned down the cause of the illness among the herd: the H5N1 strain of the bird flu. It was the first time the virus had been detected in cattle. The sick cows, said Petersen, who owns Sunrise Veterinary Service, tended to produce milk that didn’t look quite right, and had mastitis, an inflammation of the udders. During that same time, she said,...

NPR—Scientists worry the U.S. may be missing bird flu cases in farm workers : Shots - Health News. Officially, only one person has caught the illness during the current outbreak. But with limited testing, cases could be flying under the radar.

Fortune—Texas vet who cares for 40,000 cattle said nearly every farm that had cows sick with bird flu also had sick workers: ‘I had people who never missed work, miss work’. Farmers have been hesitant to allow health officials onto their land because of the "stigma" of bird flu, another vet said.

NBC News—Dairy worker with bird flu never developed respiratory symptoms, only pinkeye. The Texas dairy worker who caught bird flu from a sick cow in late March had none of the symptoms typically associated with influenza, including fever, coughing or sneezing. The only indication that he had been infected was a striking case of pinkeye. Details of the man’s case — the only documented instance of bird flu spreading from a cow to a human — were published Friday in the New England Journal of Medicine, from health officials in Texas and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. ...