California Department of Health expects more confirmed human bird flu cases

SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — State health officials are confirming six human cases of the H5 bird flu, with five more potential cases awaiting official results.

“The transmission to human beings is really rare,” said Dr. Kaveh Bahmanpour, with Sharp Community Medical Group.

Health officials say all the people who have gotten sick had direct contact with infected dairy cattle at nine different farms in Central California.

Since April, 20 people have been infected with bird flu across five states, but evidence continues to suggest only animal-to-human spread of the virus.

“Bird flu symptoms are the same as the normal flu. Starts with the cough, a little bit fever, but it could be muscle aches, diarrhea, all those general symptoms,” Dr. Bahmanpour said.

Symptoms may feel more severe, but would be treated with the same antiviral medication as other flus.

While the risk to the general public remains low, health officials are expecting more cases to be confirmed in California among people in agricultural settings.

The state health department along with the CDC are actively working to identify, track, and treat any possible or confirmed cases of bird flu.

Local doctors say the biggest risk of getting bird flu outside of working on a farm would be handling a dead bird. In this situation, it is best to not touch it and call animal control.

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