Five Human Cases of Highly Pathogenic H5N1 Bird Flu Reported in Colorado

Five Human Cases of Highly Pathogenic H5N1 Bird Flu Reported in ColoradoCHARLIE NEUBERGALL/AP

Health officials from the city. State of Colorado (USA) reported five cases of human infection with highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza. They work in poultry farming and their condition is not serious, the Colorado Department of Health and Environment (southwestern US) reported.

U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has confirmed four cases, with one additional case considered positive and awaiting confirmation from CDC.

Workers they were slaughtering poultry on a farm in northeastern Colorado and had mild symptoms, including conjunctivitis (red eyes) and symptoms of a common respiratory infection. No one was hospitalized. Epidemiologists suspect the poultry workers’ cases are the result of working directly with infected birds. The investigation is ongoing, supported by the CDC.

A total of 55 poultry workers in Colorado have been tested in connection with the recent bird flu outbreak, all of whom had similar symptoms.

Having killed millions of birds and spread to dozens of mammal species on several continents, the virus continues to gain momentum. On Sunday, it was announced First case of infection of a marine mammal in Antarctica with highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1

This is an elephant seal found dead on Robert Island.

This discovery was made by a group of Spanish researchers from Severo Ochoa Center for Molecular Biology (CBSO-CSIC)from the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities. The discovery indicates the spread of the disease to other animal groups, with unknown consequences for Antarctic wildlife and ecosystems, the scientific institution said in a note.

The first reliable evidence of the virus spreading to Antarctica appeared in February last year, when Spanish scientists Antonio Alcami and Angela Vasquez They found the infection in bird samples collected by Argentine scientists near the Primavera Antarctic base.