As of October 10, the California Department of Public Health
(CDPH) reported
four confirmed human cases of bird flu in California were
confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC). CDPH has also identified two new possible cases, which is
pending confirmation from CDC testing. All cases involve
individuals who had contact with infected dairy cattle in the
Central Valley. There is no known link or contact between the
three confirmed cases, nor the two possible cases, suggesting
only animal-to-human spread of the virus in California.
According to the CDC and CDPH, the risk remains
low to the general public, but people who interact with
infected animals, like dairy or poultry farm workers, are at
higher risk of getting bird flu. Both the CDC and CDPH recommend
that personal protective equipment, or PPE, such as respirators
(N95 masks), eye protection (face shields or safety goggles), and
gloves be worn by anyone working with animals or materials that
are infected or potentially infected with the bird flu virus.
Please see CDPH’s Worker
Protection from Bird Flu for full PPE guidance.
CDPH continues to support local health departments in
distributing PPE from state and federal stockpiles directly to
affected dairy farms, farmworker organizations, poultry farm
workers, those who handle raw dairy products, and slaughterhouse
workers. In addition, CDPH is working closely with local
public health laboratories and local health departments to
provide health checks for exposed individuals and ensure testing
and treatment are available when needed.
CDPH guidance on “What Californians Can Do” –
People exposed to infected animals should monitor for the
following symptoms for 10 days after their last exposure: eye
redness (conjunctivitis), cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy
nose, diarrhea, vomiting, muscle or body aches, headaches,
fatigue, trouble breathing, and fever. If they start to feel
sick, they should immediately isolate, notify their local
public health department, and work with public health and
health care providers to get timely testing and
treatment. CDPH recommends that all Californians —
especially workers at risk for exposure to bird flu — receive a
seasonal flu vaccine. Although the seasonal flu vaccine will not
protect against bird flu, it can decrease the risk of being
infected with both viruses at the same time and reduce the chance
of severe illness from seasonal flu.
