Microbiologist Anne Vandenburg-Carroll tests poultry samples collected from a farm located in a control area for the presence of avian influenza, or bird flu, at the Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory at the University of Wisconsin-Madison on DES MOINES, Iowa - A Colorado prison inmate has tested positive for bird flu in the first recent confirmed case of a human infected with the disease that has resulted in the deaths of millions of chickens and turkeys, but federal officials say they still see little threat to the general public.The U.S.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday evening that the man who tested positive had been in a prerelease program and was helping to remove chickens from an infected farm.
The man, who was under age 40, reported fatigue for a few days but has since recovered, state health and CDC officials said in a statement.The man was isolated and is being treated with an antiviral drug.
Other people involved in the bird removal operation in Colorado have tested negative, but they are being retested out of an abundance of caution.Despite the infection, the CDC considers the threat to the general public to be low because spread of the virus to people requires close contact with an infected bird.Signals that could raise the public health risk might include multiple reports of virus infections in people from exposure to birds, or identification of spread from one infected person to a close contact.