More than 44,000 birds in Butte County have tested positive for H5N1 avian influenza A, or bird flu.
This is a massive jump since the beginning of the year.
In early January, the Butte County Public Health Department reported 70 cases of bird flu in a backyard flock. The same day, the U.S. Department of Agriculture posted on its website that more than 44,000 thousand cases of bird flu had been detected in the region. NSPR has since confirmed that number with public health.
The bulk of those cases were at a commercial game bird farm in the county that supplies birds to hunting clubs in the region. The name and location of the club has not been released.
Lisa Almaguer, the public information officer for Butte County’s public health department, said there have been no reported human cases of bird flu in the county.
However there is a risk cases could go unreported.
That’s because hospitals in the region do not regularly test for bird flu.
Several health care providers in the region told NSPR they test for influenza A, but a person would only be tested for the bird flu — which caused by a specific strain of influenza A — if they were knowingly exposed to the virus. If that were to happen, doctors would report the case to public health.
But, people may not know if they’ve been exposed and may be asymptomatic.
Public health officials maintain that the risk to the general public from bird flu is low.
Meanwhile, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is advising that patients hospitalized with influenza be tested for bird flu within 24 hours of being admitted.
