While the odds of a human contracting bird flu are small, the virus has seen a number of outbreaks this year, and public health officials are trying to stay on top of the situation.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, researchers and officials have been assessing the robustness of existing testing infrastructure, with the virus already demonstrating its ability to cross between different species and remain active on surfaces for as long as several hours.
Now, officials have mapped the prevalence of the disease. Here’s some of what Newsweek reported on its distribution across the United States:
Six farmworkers in Colorado have contracted bird flu since the start of July, adding to a growing list of human bird flu cases across the United States. However, these numbers pale in comparison to the outbreaks seen among poultry flocks and dairy herds across the United States.
Highly pathogenic avian influenza (H5N1) is an infectious viral illness that spreads primarily among wild and domestic birds. But the virus that causes bird flu can sometimes jump into animals, including dairy cows and, in some cases, humans.
As of July 17, more than 99,000,000 poultry birds have been affected by the virus in the U.S. since the start of 2022, when the outbreak first begun, according to data from the U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention. 1,165 outbreaks have been reported across 526 counties in 48 states, which can be seen in the map below.