What scientists know about bird flu symptoms from the first 9 U.S. human cases
U.S. cases of bird flu have been relatively mild and limited to farm workers who handled sick animals – a sign the virus may not be well suited to infecting humans in its current state.
Four poultry workers in Colorado who recently contracted bird flu bring the total of human cases in the U.S. to at least nine.
Though that number is small, disease researchers say commonalities between the cases — all but one of which were reported in the last four months — are enough to start assembling a picture of how the virus may affect people.
The U.S. cases have been relatively mild and limited to farm workers who had handled infected animals — a sign that the virus in its current state isn’t a major threat to humans.
Some patients have reported typical flu symptoms such as fever, chills, cough, sore throat or runny nose. Several have had conjunctivitis or pink eye.
“One thing that we can conclude is that the current strain of the virus isn’t well adapted for human infection, and may not even be well adapted for infecting the lower respiratory tract,” said Matthew Binnicker, director of the Clinical Virology Laboratory at the Mayo Clinic.
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