CHICAGO (CBS) — Wisconsin has identified the first human case of bird flu.
The Wisconsin Department of Health Services announced Wednesday that it had discovered a presumptive positive human case of highly pathogenic avian influenza A, or H5N1, in Barron County.
Barron County is located in the northwestern part of Wisconsin, north of Eau Claire and Menomonie, and about an hour and 45 minutes outside of Minneapolis.
The Wisconsin DHS said the human case followed an infected flock of commercial poultry in the same county. The person who contracted the disease has had contact with the herd.
State DHS and Barron County Health and Human Services are monitoring farmworkers who have been exposed and educating them on how to protect their health. DHS said the risk to the general public in Wisconsin is low.
Bird flu has also been found in a part of Wisconsin closer to Chicago, but no human cases have been reported. The Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection said they found H5N1 in a backyard poultry flock in Kenosha County, CBS 58 Milwaukee reported.
This news from Wisconsin came on the same day as a person in Louisiana it was confirmed that he had the first serious illness caused by bird flu in the U.S. This person was found to have been exposed to sick and dead birds in backyard flocks, although an investigation into the source of the infection is ongoing in the state.
Also Wednesday, California Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency about concerns about bird flu. This came after more cases of bird flu were discovered in dairy cows in Southern California, the governor’s office said.
“This proclamation is a targeted action to ensure government agencies have the resources and flexibility they need to quickly respond to this outbreak,” Newsom said in a statement.
Mild illness has been observed in dairy and poultry workers who had close contact with infected animals. In two cases, no known source of the diseases has been identified, worrying infectious disease experts possibility of human-to-human transmissionwhich could cause a pandemic.