NEW YORK (AP) — Health officials on Thursday said they don’t know how a Missouri person caught bird flu but believe it may be a rare instance of a “one-off" standalone illness.
Investigators trying to determine how the person caught the virus have not been able to confirm the exact strain of flu.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials said the risk to the general public remains low. The Missouri case raised questions about the possibility of human-to-human bird flu transmission, but officials said there is no evidence of other people being infected.
“Right now, evidence points to this being a one-off case,” said Dr. Nirav Shah, CDC principal deputy director.
Unusual flu strains that come from animals are occasionally found in people. This year alone, health officials identified seven human cases of swine flu in the U.S., officials said. But this is the first time the surveillance system detected an avian flu like this.
The H5N1 bird flu has been spreading widely among wild birds, poultry, cows and a growing number of other animals. Its growing presence in the environment increases the chances that people will be exposed, and potentially catch it, Shah said.
Citing patient confidentiality, health officials have disclosed few details about the Missouri case, which was first announced late last week.
The person had chest pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and weakness and was hospitalized on Aug. 22 “for reasons related to their underlying medical conditions,” Shah said.
The patient was tested for flu as part of the treatment and was positive for influenza A, a broad virus category. Subsequent testing — completed last week — found the bug to belong to category of viruses usually seen in birds and not people. However, the patient had a very low concentration of viral genetic material, leaving officials without the ability to full analyze it and confirm exactly which virus it is, Shah said.
Partial genetic sequences from the virus in the Missouri patient were similar to the same segments in viruses isolated from U.S. dairy cows, CDC officials said.
"Ultimately, a full sequence may not be technically feasible," Shah said.
The patient had no known contact with dairy cows or other animals associated with the ongoing bird flu outbreak. The person later told Missouri health officials that they didn't drink unpasteurized milk or dairy products, Shah said in a Thursday call with reporters.
The patient received antiviral medication and has since recovered and gone home, health officials said.
As part of their investigation, officials hope to draw blood from people who were around the patient to see if they show evidence of infection, Shah said.
The Missouri patient was the 14th person in the U.S. sickened with bird flu since March, when the virus was detected in cows. One other person was infected in 2022. All of those cases were relatively mild illnesses, and each patient had been in direct contact with infected animals.
U.S. health officials have been making preparations for vaccines and other measures, in case the bird flu does start spreading widely among people or begins causing severe illness.
On Thursday, the CDC announced it is partnering with five commercial lab companies so they can develop and conduct tests for H5N1 or other viruses. The agency initially is devoting at least $5 million to the agreements, and making plans to scale up to $118 million over the next five years if necessary, Shah said.
In the past, CDC developed its own tests during the early stages of new epidemics, with widespread testing not becoming available until later. That slowed detection of emerging infections.
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Officials call Missouri bird flu case a 'one-off' and say risk to public is still low
Officials call Missouri bird flu case a 'one-off' and say risk to public is still low
FILE - The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is shown, March 15, 2020, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Bazemore, File)
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The FBI and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service on Tuesday were investigating the origin of suspicious packages that have been sent to or received by elections officials in more than a dozen states, but there were no immediate reports of injuries or that any of the packages contained hazardous material.
The latest packages were sent to elections officials in Georgia, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Missouri, New York and Rhode Island. Mississippi authorities reported a package was delivered there on Monday, and the Connecticut Secretary of State's office on Tuesday also said the FBI alerted them of a suspicious package that was intercepted.
The FBI is collecting the letters, some of which contained “an unknown substance,” spokesperson Kristen Setera of the agency's Boston office said in a statement.
“We are also working with our partners to determine how many letters were sent, the individual or individuals responsible for the letters, and the motive behind the letters,” she said. “As this is an ongoing matter we will not be commenting further on the investigation, but the public can be assured safety is our top priority.”
It’s the second time in the past year that suspicious packages were mailed to election officials in multiple state offices.
The latest scare comes as early voting has begun in several states less than two months ahead of the high-stakes elections for president, Senate, Congress and key statehouse offices around the nation, causing disruption in what is already a tense voting season. Local election directors are beefing up their security to keep their workers and polling places safe while also ensuring that ballots and voting procedures won’t be tampered with.
The National Association of Secretaries of State condemned what it described as a “disturbing trend” of threats to election workers leading up to Nov. 5, as well as the second apparent assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump.
“This must stop, period,” the group said. "Our democracy has no place for political violence, threats or intimidation of any kind.”
On Tuesday, the FBI notified the Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth’s office that postal service investigators had identified what they described as a suspicious envelope that had been delivered to a building housing state offices. The package was intercepted and isolated, according to state officials. No employees from the secretary of the commonwealth’s office had contact with the envelope, which is now in the hands of the FBI.
Packages also were sent to secretaries of state and state election offices in Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Wyoming this week. The packages forced evacuations in Iowa, Oklahoma and Wyoming. Hazmat crews in several states quickly determined the material was harmless.
The Mississippi Secretary of State’s Elections Division said it received a package similar to those sent to other states. It said its office had been on “high alert” for a potential package and that the state Department of Homeland Security was testing the one received. The division said it has notified county election officials to be on the lookout.
Oklahoma officials said the material sent to the election office there contained flour. Wyoming officials have not yet said if the material sent there was hazardous.
“We have specific protocols in place for situations such as this,” Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate said in a statement after the evacuation of the six-story Lucas State Office Building in Des Moines. “We immediately reported the incident per our protocols.”
A state office building in Topeka, Kansas, was evacuated due to suspicious mail sent to both the secretary of state and attorney general, Kansas Highway Patrol spokesperson April M. McCollum said in a statement.
Topeka Fire Department crews found several pieces of mail with an unknown substance on them, though a field test found no hazardous materials, spokesperson Rosie Nichols said. Several employees in both offices had been exposed to it and had their health monitored, she said.
In Oklahoma, the State Election Board received a suspicious envelope in the mail containing a multi-page document and a white, powdery substance, agency spokesperson Misha Mohr said in an email to The Associated Press. The Oklahoma Highway Patrol, which oversees security for the Capitol, secured the envelope. Testing determined the substance was flour, Mohr said.
State workers in an office building next to the Wyoming Capitol in Cheyenne were sent home for the day pending testing of a white substance mailed to the secretary of state’s office.
Suspicious letters were sent to election offices and government buildings in at least six states last November, including the same building in Kansas that received suspicious mail Monday. While some of the letters contained fentanyl, even the suspicious mail that was not toxic delayed the counting of ballots in some local elections.
One of the targeted offices was in Fulton County, Georgia, the largest voting jurisdiction in one of the nation’s most important swing states. Four county election offices in Washington state had to be evacuated as election workers were processing ballots cast, delaying vote-counting.
The letters caused election workers around the country to stock up the overdose reversal medication naloxone.
Election offices across the United States have taken steps to increase the security of their buildings and boost protections for workers amid an onslaught of harassment and threats following the 2020 election and the false claims that it was rigged.
LeBlanc reported from Boston. Christina Almeida Cassidy in Atlanta; Anthony Izaguirre in Albany, New York; Susan Haigh in Norwich, Connecticut; Jim Salter in O’Fallon, Missouri; Isabella Volmert in Lansing, Michigan; Mead Gruver in Cheyenne, Wyoming; Jonathan Mattise in Nashville, Tennessee; Sean Murphy in Oklahoma City and John Hanna in Topeka, Kansas, contributed to this report.
The Oklahoma State Election Board Office inside the state Capitol in Oklahoma City, was one of at least five states in the U.S. which election officials received suspicious packages on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Sean Murphy)
FILE - William R. Snodgrass Tennessee Tower stands June 22, 2023, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV, File)
The Oklahoma State Election Board Office inside the state Capitol in Oklahoma City, was one of at least five states in the U.S. which election officials received suspicious packages on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Sean Murphy)
The Oklahoma State Election Board Office inside the state Capitol in Oklahoma City, was one of at least five states in the U.S. which election officials received suspicious packages on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Sean Murphy)
A hazmat crew from the National Guard's Civilian Support Team investigates after a suspicious package was delivered to election officials at the Missouri Secretary of State's Jefferson City, Mo., office on Tuesday Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Summer Ballentine)
