A second health worker who cared for a person hospitalized in Missouri with H5N1 bird flu developed mild respiratory symptoms but was not tested for influenza, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Friday.
The CDC said Missouri health officials didn’t learn that the health worker had symptoms until after the individual had recovered, too late to run a diagnostic test.
“CDC is in close communication with the state of Missouri in its ongoing investigation into the positive H5N1 case there, including regarding the identification of an additional symptomatic close contact,” a spokesperson for the agency told STAT via email. “The finding does not change CDC’s assessment that the risk to the public remains low.”