4 Franklin County Farmworkers Believed to Have H5N1 Bird Flu Virus

WA State Dept. of Health says if the cases are confirmed, it would be the first human cases of H5N1 in WA.

   Four workers preliminarily test positive

First detected in the US in 2022, the H5N1 bird flu produces symptoms in humans that include upper respiratory illness, cough, mild sore throat and conjunctivitis or pink eye. According to the Washington State Standard, the workers were tested, but officials waiting for final confirmation.

  They had been working at a poultry operation in southeastern WA in Franklin County where some of the birds were found to have contracted the virus. Recently,  800,000 of the birds at the facility in Franklin County had detections found among the egg-laying chickens.

When birds are found to have contracted H5N1 they are quickly quarantined and euthanized. Then, they are disposed of often by using cremation. If the virus is not isolated and kept from spreading to to other animals, it can produce fatal results.

According to The Standard:

"The type of bird flu that has been circulating in the U.S. is known formally as an H5 highly pathogenic avian influenza. This disease has caused outbreaks across the country in poultry, dairy cows, and various wildlife, including harbor seals in northwest Washington.  

Risks to the general public are considered low, according to the CDC. So far, it’s people who spend time around animals that get the virus who are more likely to catch it."

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According to the USDA, the virus doe NOT affect chicken meat or eggs,they are safe for humans to eat. But the toll on the US poultry flock nationwide has been extensive, and for consumers, expensive as a lot of birds have had to be euthanized.