Human Bird Flu Hospitalizations Now Reported in Wyoming and Ohio

Human Bird Flu Hospitalizations Now Reported in Wyoming and Ohio

I reported that an elderly patient in Louisiana with pre-existing conditions succumbed to the H5N1 bird flu in January.

Now two more cases of human bird flu have led to hospitalization.

In Ohio, a farm worker from Mercer County who was culling poultry became infected. This individual was confirmed to have been hospitalized due to the infection. However, the Ohio Department of Health later reported that the person was discharged from the hospital after receiving treatment for respiratory symptoms.

“The individual had respiratory symptoms. He was previously hospitalized and has since been released,” a spokesperson for Ohio’s health department told CBS News in an email Saturday.

Authorities in Ohio had previously refused to disclose the status of their bird flu case, which was first announced earlier this week in a man who had contact with sick poultry.

Ohio has become a new epicenter of bird flu, and one of its biggest poultry farms has been impacted.

Over the past several weeks, Ohio has been one of main outbreak epicenters, with one of the latest events involving a commercial farm in Darke County that has more than 3 million birds, according to APHIS. The virus also struck another layer farm in Ohio’s Mercer County, a facility that has nearly 85,000 birds.

Elsewhere, the virus struck two more commercial farms in Indiana, another hard-hit state. The latest outbreaks occurred at a turkey farm in Washington County and a commercial duck-breeding facility in Elkhart County. The virus was also confirmed in backyard birds in two states, a location in Florida’s Broward County and a location in New York’s Delaware County.

Over the last 30 days alone, ongoing H5N1 outbreaks have led to the loss of nearly 19 million birds.

In Wyoming, an older woman from Platte County was hospitalized in Colorado after likely contracting the virus through direct contact with her infected backyard poultry flock. The woman has underlying health conditions that may have increased her vulnerability to severe illness.

“While this is a significant development as bird flu activity is monitored in Wyoming and across the country, it is not something we believe requires a high level of concern among most Wyoming residents,” said Dr. Alexia Harrist, state health officer and state epidemiologist with the Wyoming Department of Health.

Harrist said the woman is hospitalized in another state, has health conditions that can make people more vulnerable to illness, and was likely exposed to the virus through direct contact with an infected poultry flock at her home. H5N1 has been known to be infecting wild birds in Wyoming for some time now with the currently circulating virus spreading nationally since 2022. Infections among poultry and dairy cattle have also occurred previously in Wyoming.

“Experts continue to track the spread of H5N1 through wild birds, poultry and dairy cattle across the country. A small number of people have also been infected. Most of those confirmed cases involved on-the-job close contact with poultry or cattle and mild symptoms,” Harrist said. “Unfortunately, this patient’s experience has been much more serious.”

So far, 70 confirmed human cases of H5N1 bird flu have been reported in the United States since early 2024. Most cases have been mild, with “pink eyes” being a common symptom.

Additionally, seven probable cases have been reported. The cases are primarily associated with animal-to-human exposures without evidence of person-to-person transmission.

Meanwhile, dozens of dead geese found in parts of a New Jersey borough’s parks have tested positive for bird flu, leading local officials to close the properties and ask that a popular event be moved.

Allentown Borough officials posted a notice to their website on Thursday that Dr. Farmer’s Park, Pete Sensi Park and a portion of Heritage Park will remain closed after some 30 dead geese were removed earlier this month.

Local officials were informed Thursday by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection that the birds removed by a contractor tested positive for H5N1, the virus that causes the illness, said Borough Administrator Laurie Roth. The decease was suspected in the deaths earlier this month.

The virus was suspected in the deaths in Allentown, as well as several other municipalities in Monmouth County, where dead geese have appeared over the past weeks.

The parks will remain closed indefinitely, Roth said.

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