On April 1, 2024, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed that a person in Texas has tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 virus, also known as “bird flu,” after being exposed to infected dairy cattle. This is the second confirmed case of HPAI H5N1 in the U.S. following a previous human case that occurred in 2022 in Colorado.
CDC has been monitoring for human cases of HPAI H5N1 since late 2021, when outbreaks first began to sweep through U.S. wild bird and poultry populations. The first related instance of HPAI confirmed in U.S. commercial poultry occurred in March 2022. Bird flu has also been affecting wild bird and poultry populations across the globe. HPAI in dairy cows was first reported in Texas and Kansas by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on March 25, 2024.