Oregon health officials said three people traveled to the state from Washington while they were infected with avian influenza.
The three people were poultry workers who were already being monitored by public health officials because they had been exposed to birds that tested positive for the virus in Washington, according to state health officials. Officials said there was little risk to public health because the H5N1 bird flu is unlikely to spread between humans.
Washington public health officials were already investigating human cases of H5N1 bird flu. Several workers at a farm experiencing an avian influenza outbreak among chickens had tested positive and were showing mild symptoms.
The three new human patients carrying H5N1 have returned to Washington, where that state’s public health staff are monitoring them.
The Oregon cases bring the total to nine associated with the Washington outbreak.
Oregon health officials, citing health privacy laws, did not say why the people Washington infected with avian influenza traveled to Oregon while sick, or whether they were isolated or quarantined while staying in the state.
Jonathan Modie, spokesperson for the Oregon Health Authority, said that there have been “no infections among people living in Oregon.”
“At this time, there is no evidence of human-to-human transmission of avian influenza and there was no risk of H5N1 for people in Oregon with this travel,” Modie said in an email Friday.
Meanwhile, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife warned against touch dead wild birds, which could be infected and transmit the virus to humans.
The wildlife agency reported Thursday that the state was seeing an uptick in birds infected with avian influenza with the fall migration in full swing. Officials said infections and mortality rates were on the rise, especially among cackling geese in the Willamette Valley. Oregon is the first state to report a spike in infections this fall, officials said.
Fish and Wildlife officials asked the public to report groups of sick or dead wild birds to the state’s wildlife lab by calling 866-968-2600 or emailing wildlife.health@odfw.oregon.gov.
The H5N1 virus has affected over 100 million domesticated birds across the U.S. since the outbreak started in February 2022, according to the USDA. The recent skyrocketing of egg prices was linked to avian influenza’s impact on the supply chain, as outbreaks of the virus led to significant reductions in egg-laying chickens.
Meanwhile, a backyard pig in central Oregon’s Crook County was confirmed to have bird flu, representing the first known swine case of the virus in the U.S.
— Kristine de Leon covers consumer health, retail, small business and data enterprise stories.
Reach her at kdeleon@oregonian.com.Our journalism needs your support. Subscribe today.
