The Daily Populous Thursday February 13rd, 2025 day edition
Authored by wcpo.com and submitted by Crackshaw

MERCER COUNTY, Ohio — A man in Ohio has contracted bird flu, marking the state's first case of the disease during the current outbreak, the Ohio Department of Health (ODH) announced Wednesday.

ODH said the reported probable case of influenza A(H5), also known as Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza or bird flu, was detected in an adult farmer in Mercer County, Ohio. Mercer County is roughly two hours away from Cincinnati.

The infected man was in contact with deceased commercial poultry that was infected with the virus, ODH said.

Currently, the general risk of bird flu for humans is low, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

ODH said the best way to avoid bird flu is to, whenever possible, avoid direct contact with wild birds, as well as sick or dead poultry or other animals. If you find sick or dead poultry or animals, contact your local health department or local veterinarian before approaching, ODH said.

Those who own poultry should practice good biosecurity to keep their birds separate from wild birds. You can click here for more information about best biosecurity practices.

For those who must handle sick birds or other animals, ODH recommends:

Using protective equipment such as gloves, N95 or well-fitting face masks and eye protection

Wash your hands thoroughly after touching birds or sick animals

Avoid touching your nose, mouth or eyes after contact with birds or animals, or any materials they may have been in contact with

Change any clothing before contact with healthy birds and animals after dealing with sick ones

Outside of Ohio, the CDC says there have been a total of 68 reported human cases of bird flu, including one death, during this current outbreak. The majority of the cases have been in California, Colorado and Washington.

5thCorvid on February 13rd, 2025 at 01:12 UTC »

It's worth noting that in addition to this being a serious human disease (CDCCDC is currently reporting 68 human cases + 1 fatality, but this is a fed source, check when the data was last updated), this is an incredibly dangerous disease for cats. It presents neurologically and is fatal. Most of the reported cases that vets are seeing in my area (SF Bay Area) are coming from food exposure. Any cats that have the potential of catching/eating diseased birds (raw milk has also been a reported vector)

Sorry for formatting, mobile is hard

cmg4champ on February 13rd, 2025 at 00:15 UTC »

Human bird flu?

But don't worry Ohio. Trump has already dropped out of the WHO, and cut NIH and CDC funding.

Right Repubs?

RustywantsYou on February 12nd, 2025 at 23:53 UTC »

Already has one in Louisiana. These people are usually involved with backyard flocks in some way or working with dairy cattle.

But yeah. We're going to be fucked eventually. Notice it's not the CDC telling us about it