What to Know About the Bird Flu amid the Current Outbreak

On Nov. 24, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) issued a statement warning the public of a recalled batch of milk after the bird flu was detected in a retail sample.

This is just the latest update in the multi-state outbreak of bird flu in dairy cattle, the U.S. Department of Agriculture says. 

As the World Health Organization calls the current outbreak a “significant public health concern,” here’s everything to know about the bird flu and whether humans are at risk.

What is the bird flu?

Bird flu, also known as highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), is caused by a virus that can result in serious illness and death in birds and mammals. The virus has been around for decades, and first received global attention in the late 1990s following an outbreak among chickens in southern China.

H5 — one family of bird flu viruses — has nine subtypes, including H5N1, which is the strain responsible for the current outbreak.

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Can humans contract bird flu?

Bird flu can be transmitted from birds to humans if they come in close contact with infected animals. According to experts, infected birds shed flu viruses in their saliva, mucous, and feces. The HPAI has been found in commercial and backyard farms in 49 states, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reports.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, there have been 57 cases of bird flu in humans this year, most from exposure to cattle or poultry. The virus is spreading among livestock and poultry in seven states: California, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Michigan, Missouri and Texas. 

However, there is no evidence that bird flu can be transmitted from human to human. 

Will the bird flu outbreak lead to another pandemic?

The World Health Organization does not currently list the bird flu outbreak as a global health emergency.

This is nowhere near Covid-levels of concern, Dr. Joseph Khabbaza, Critical Care and Pulmonology at the Cleveland Clinic, previously told PEOPLE. “This would be completely different than four years ago in Covid because there’s no human-to-human transmission that really occurs.”

“A very small, very tiny percentage of people are even at risk of getting infected,” he added. “So, if you work in one of those fields where you have very close exposure to cattle and wild birds and poultry, those are the people who have to be most vigilant.”

“If it shows that there’s a level of human-to-human transmission like we haven’t seen before, and then you find clusters where there is a human case reported, then you start seeing people in that person’s bubble starting to get sick,” Khabbaza explained, noting that if “you have a region that starts getting lots of people going to the hospital or having flu-like symptoms ultimately manifesting to death. That’s when you’d get nervous.” 

But as for now, “For the vast majority of Americans, there should be no Covid-like fears.”

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Are poultry and dairy products safe to consume?

In April, the Food and Drug Administration announced that fragments of the virus that causes bird flu were found in samples of milk bought at the grocery store. 

The CDC cautioned that people should not drink “raw milk contaminated with live A(H5N1) virus as a way to develop antibodies against A(H5N1) virus to protect against future disease. Consuming raw milk could make you sick.”

Pasteurization — which is heating milk to a degree where pathogens are killed — “offers the same nutritional benefits without the risks of raw milk consumption,” the CDC says.

The agency also states to cook poultry, eggs and beef to a safe internal temperature in order to kill bacteria and viruses. 

What are symptoms of bird flu and how is it treated?

Symptoms of bird flu can include fever, fatigue, cough, muscle aches, sore throat, shortness of breath, stuffy or runny nose, eye redness, headaches and pneumonia requiring hospitalization, according to the CDC. Less common symptoms include diarrhea, nausea, vomiting or seizures.

The virus is typically treated with Tamiflu, or oseltamivir, one of the primary medications used to treat ordinary cases of influenza.

Those who had close contact with obviously sick or dead poultry/wild birds, or surfaces contaminated by them, are urged to contact their state or local health department.