Health officials confirm case of bird flu in Missouri

The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services said Friday it has confirmed the first case of avian influenza - or bird flu - in a person in the state.

It’s the 15th bird flu case reported in the U.S. since 2022.

A health department spokesperson said the case was discovered in a patient who had been hospitalized on Aug. 22. A specimen was sent to a lab for testing, which came back positive for avian flu.

The patient has since recovered and was discharged from the hospital. Officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are continuing to review the case.

Due to patient privacy laws, the health department did not provide additional information on where the patient was hospitalized or other personal information.

While H5 is primarily found in wild birds and poultry, it’s also been discovered in dairy cows and other animals. The health department spokesperson said the infected patient in Missouri had no exposure to animals. No dairy cattle have yet tested positive for the virus in Missouri, though some H5 cases have been reported in backyard bird flocks and wild birds.

Health officials say the Missouri case was the first in the country to be identified through the flu surveillance system as opposed to targeted H5 outbreak surveillance, which was how the first 14 cases were identified.

Additional information about bird flu and the influenza monitoring system is available on the CDC’s website .

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