The CDC is calling for expanded testing of bird flu after a child in California tested positive for the virus despite no known contact with animals.

Due to ongoing sporadic H5N1 avian flu infections and brisk levels of seasonal flu activity, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today urged healthcare providers to subtype all influenza A specimens in hospitalized patients, especially those in the intensive care unit (ICU), as soon as possible.

The Putnam County Health Department said humans who do not come into direct contact with sick animals are considered low risk for exposure.

Avian flu is rampant in poultry farms and in wild birds in the U.S. Every mutation brings the virus one step closer to the brink of human-to-human transmission, but predicting whether a virus will cross that threshold remains an uncertain science.

Officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommend that hospitals speed up testing people who are hospitalized with the flu for H5N1 bird flu. Health care workers in

Meanwhile, the agency urges faster testing for avian influenza A(H5N1) in hospitalized patients with suspected influenza.

The Hawai‘i Department of Agriculture Animal Industry Division is again urging commercial poultry operations and backyard bird owners to increase biosecurity measures to protect their flocks from avian influenza.

The Connecticut Department of Agriculture confirmed the presence of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza H5N1, commonly known as bird flu, in a flock of chickens, ducks and peacocks on Jan. 15. These birds were family pets and had been in close contact with wild waterfowl from a nearby pond, according to the release.

Bird flu has been detected in a Georgia commercial poultry flock for the first time since a countrywide outbreak in 2022.

The state Department of Agriculture on Friday announced that it has detected a case of "Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza" at a commercial poultry producer in Elbert County, which is around 100 miles northeast of Atlanta.

Moderna MRNA announced that the U.S. government, through the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (“BARDA”), has awarded the company $590 million to accelerate the development of an mRNA-based vaccine program aimed at preventing the spread of the H5N1 virus,