Answering questions about bird flu

The first reported human death from the bird flu virus in the U.S. came last week in Louisiana. The person who died had exposure to a backyard flock of chickens and wild birds. 

While there is no sign the virus is spreading from person to person, Carl Fichtenbaum, MD, world renowned infectious diseases professor and vice chair for clinical research in the Department of Internal Medicine at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, recently discussed prevention, transmission and preparedness on Cincinnati Edition on WVXU.

"There is a heightened awareness of this, and so since 2022, we've been testing very extensively in animal populations, looking for this, what we call H5N1 avian influenza A. And since we've been doing this, there's also been surveillance that's been done by the CDC as well, looking for these infections as well in human beings," said Fichtenbaum.

He said bird flu or avian flu viruses have been around since the 1990s but have yet to take hold. 

"There's always concern, but we have been monitoring these kinds of of bird flus for a while, and what we're not seeing is human-to-human transmission. So, I think right now what we're worried about the most are coming in contact with animals, because the particular type of influenza A that we're seeing in these animal populations is very widespread in poultry, birds and also cattle now," said Fichtenbaum.

But only 63 human cases have been reported in the U.S. to date. So, he said he doesn't think anyone should be panicking, because there has not been human-to-human transmission yet — and not transmission from purchasing or eating eggs.

"It's mostly been from the people who work caring for the animals or have close contact. You're feeding animals, feeding birds, things like that," said Fichtenbaum.

Fichtenbaum suggests wearing gloves if anyone is in contact with wild animals, wearing a mask if someone is around bird droppings (near a bird feeder, for example), not touching the face when handling any wild animals and washing hands thoroughly afterward.

Listen to the full segment to hear Fichtenbaum talk about a possible bird flu vaccine.

Featured image at top: iStock/Jun Li.