An American first became infected with a new type of bird flu: does it threaten an epidemic

A man working at a poultry farm in Colorado tested positive for a strain of avian flu after he had practically recovered and had no symptoms, reports Today.

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The highly contagious strain of avian influenza that is causing poultry farmers to kill millions of birds across the country has now been detected in humans for the first time in the United States.

An adult male under the age of 40 who worked at a commercial poultry farm in Montrose County, Colorado, tested positive for influenza A (H5) virus earlier this week, according to a press release from the Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the positive test result on April 27.

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The man is an inmate at the Delta County Correctional Facility who worked at a commercial poultry farm as part of a pre-release employment program, according to the agency. The affected poultry was euthanized.

The man reported fatigue for several days as his only symptom, and has since recovered. He is being treated with the antiviral influenza drug oseltamivir (Tamiflu). According to the CDC, he was involved in the culling of birds suspected of having H5N1 avian influenza.

Public health experts believe that the risk to humans from this strain of bird flu is low. The CDC has monitored more than 2500 people exposed to H5N1-infected birds and found only one case in Colorado. There are currently no cases of human-to-human transmission of the H5 virus.

A bird breeder in the United Kingdom who tested positive in December is the only other person infected with this strain of bird flu. More than 2003 human infections with other H880N5 viruses have been reported since 1, but the current viruses circulating in birds are different from earlier ones, according to the CDC.

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In the US, H5N1 viruses have been found in commercial and domestic birds in 29 states and in wild birds in 34 states, according to the CDC.

The spread of avian influenza viruses on farms in more than half of the country has killed millions of laying birds, pushing egg prices up to historically high levels this spring.

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