REUTERS – The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said on Friday it would award $306 million in funds to help bird flu monitoring, as the virus spreads in dairy herds and farm workers across the country.
The country in December reported its first severe human case of bird flu in a Louisiana resident, who was hospitalized in a critical condition after suspected contact with an infected backyard flock.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has confirmed 61 human cases nationally since April, mostly in workers on dairy farms where the virus infected cattle, although it noted that bird flu still represents a low risk to the general public.