While Europe is receiving reassuring news about avian flu, the same cannot be said for the US. In Louisiana, a hospitalization was announced for the first serious case of avian flu found in a human. The unfortunate patient contracted the virus through contact with his farmyard animals. This is the first serious case but not the only one, as there have already been 61 episodes of contagion among humans in the US since April 2024.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the peculiarity of what happened in Louisiana is that "in addition to affected commercial poultry and dairy farms, wild birds and backyard flocks may also be a source of exposure." Furthermore, "no human-to-human transmission of H5 avian influenza has been detected. This case," it is emphasized, "does not change the CDC's overall assessment of the immediate public health risk of H5N1 avian influenza, which remains low."

Therefore, the leap from animals to humans has not yet been observed, so that the virus, by genetically modifying itself and attaching itself to human cells, makes contagion from human to human possible.

Things are no better in California, where Governor Gavin Newsom has declared a state of emergency over avian influenza in dairy cattle. The first infected herd in the state was identified in late August. Since then, the California Department of Agriculture has detected the virus in 645 dairy farms, about half of them in the last 30 days alone.

“This proclamation is a targeted action to ensure that government agencies have the resources and flexibility they need to respond quickly to this outbreak,” Newsom said. “While the risk to the public remains low, we will continue to take all necessary measures to prevent the spread of this virus.”