A dairy worker in Texas who was diagnosed with bird flu experienced painful bleeding in both of his eyes, a disturbing new image of the patient shows, and fluid oozed from one of them.
The farm worker reported eye discomfort and redness late last month after coming into contact with sick cattle. The livestock exhibited similar symptoms to cows in northern Texas that were diagnosed with the H5N1 virus, according to a medical report published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The patient was quickly diagnosed with the bird flu strain Type A H5N1, which is spreading rapidly among livestock.
Doctors from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which initially diagnosed the unidentified person, released a photo as part of the report on Friday. It outlined the symptoms and showed the patient’s bloodshot eyes severely hemorrhaged.
The right eye, which experienced the fluid drainage, was especially red.
The worker wore gloves but no face mask or eye protection when he dealt with the animals, according to doctors.
The virus appeared to infect only the farmhand’s eyes and luckily didn’t spread to his lungs.
The patient had no changes in vision, fever or other any other symptoms and the fiery pinkeye cleared up within days, according to the report.
The mild case isn’t guaranteed — while some people don’t develop any noticeable symptoms, others can come down with severe, life-threatening pneumonia.
Around 52% of humans who have contracted H5N1 since 2003 have died, according to the World Health Organization, and some experts fear the real threat would come if there are further mutations.
The patient was told to isolate and was treated with an antiviral drug for the flu, according to the CDC.
The agency said in a release on April 1 that the threat to the general public remains low despite the infection, but those with close or prolonged exposure to infected birds or other animals are at greater risk. Authorities also insist the nation’s meat dairy supply is not at risk.
The Texas worker became the second person in the US to contract the virus, according to federal and state officials.
The latest diagnosis came a week after dairy cows in Texas and Kansas were reported to be infected with the virus. Herds in Michigan, Idaho and New Mexico have since tested positive for bird flu. Thirty-six total dairy herds were affected as of Thursday, according to the CDC.
The first human infection was in 2022, when a prison inmate contracted the disease while killing infected birds at a poultry farm in Colorado.
It’s the first time the avian flu has been found in cattle but it has thrived in more mammals in recent years, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association.