Six More Humans Catch Bird Flu in California and Oregon

Recently, the H5N1 bird flu has been making its way into more people. Six more cases have been reported, with five in California and one in Oregon. This is the first case in Oregon. There might be another case in California, but it's still being checked. All these cases are mild, and the people caught it from sick animals. In California, dairy workers got it, while in Oregon, it was a poultry worker. The state epidemiologist in California, Erica Pan, said it might seem like there are suddenly more cases, but that's just because of reporting deadlines. She also said there's no sign of people passing the virus to each other.

In Oregon, the person got the disease from infected poultry in Clackamas County. They're all better now and were treated with a medicine called oseltamivir. The health agency in Oregon also gave this medicine to people living with the patient. Since March, there have been 52 people infected with H5N1 in the U. S. Most of these cases came from dairy cows and poultry. One case in Missouri and a teenager in British Columbia come from unknown sources. The teenager is in critical condition. California has seen 26 cases, all from infected dairy cows. A group called WastewaterScan is checking wastewater in 28 places in California. Only seven places don't have the virus. Experts think it might be coming from unpasteurized milk, bird droppings, or thrown-out contaminated animal products.

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