Arizona health officials said two workers employed at poultry farms have recovered from mild cases of bird flu while the public health agency in Marin County, north of San Francisco, said it was investigating a possible bird flu infection of a child. If confirmed by the CDC, the U.S. total for bird flu infections would rise to 61 people in eight states this year.
The poultry operation’s workers were the first cases of bird flu this year in Arizona. “Both individuals were exposed to infected poultry while working at a commercial facility in Pinal County. These individuals reported mild symptoms, received treatment and recovered,” said the Arizona Department of Health Services. Pinal County is southwest of Phoenix.
Marin County Public Health said it began investigating “a possible bird flu case in a child” in late November and was working with the California Department of Public Health and the Centers for Disease Control “to confirm if it is a case and determine how the child may have been exposed.”
In mid-November, California public health officials said a child in Alameda County tested positive for the avian influenza virus and was recovering at home from mild upper respiratory symptoms. The child had no known contact with an infected animal and was the second such case in the country. All of the other people known to be infected worked on dairy and poultry farms and had direct contact with infected animals.
“It’s deeply concerning that another child may have H5N1. We need to know much more about this case, including some hypotheses for how she or he may have contracted the virus,” Jennifer Nuzzo, director of the Pandemic Center at Brown University, told the Los Angeles Times. “Given the proximity of this case to the last case of H5N1 diagnosed in a child without known exposure to animals, it may be prudent to conduct a broader investigation, including a serologic study, to see if there is evidence of other infections in the area.”
Alameda County, with 1.6 million residents, occupies much of the East Bay region, including the cities of Oakland and Berkeley. Marin County is across the San Francisco Bay and to the northwest of Alameda County.