Bird flu is increasingly sparking concern across the country and in Illinois, following news this week of the first human death from the virus in the U.S., and of birds found throughout Illinois with suspected cases of the illness.
Doctors, however, say there’s no need to panic at this point — though they’re watching the virus’s progression closely.
The Tribune spoke with local experts to find out what Illinois residents should know about bird flu right now.
What is the bird flu?
The bird flu is a disease caused by avian influenza A viruses that mostly spreads between birds. One type, H5 bird flu, is behind the outbreaks in the U.S.,and is causing illness in humans, cattle, wild birds, poultry and some pets.
The virus can spread to humans through contact with infected animals. People can catch the virus if it gets into a person’s eyes, nose or mouth, or if they breathe it in, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. So far, the virus has not been able to spread from person-to-person, only animal-to-animal and animal-to-person.
How widespread is the virus in Illinois?
Nationally, there have been 66 confirmed cases in humans during this latest outbreak, and a man in Louisiana recently died from the virus. He became sick after he was exposed to a backyard flock and wild birds, and he was older, with underlying health conditions.
In Illinois, there have been no confirmed cases yet of humans with the virus. But there have been detections of bird flu in two commercial flocks of poultry in the last 30 days in Illinois, affecting 81,200 birds. The Illinois Department of Natural Resources also said in late December it was monitoring “a large event of waterfowl mortality” at numerous locations due to bird flu.
It’s “very likely” that a person in Illinois will get the bird flu, if someone hasn’t already, given the number of animal cases in Illinois, said Dr. Robert Murphy, professor of infectious diseases at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.
What are the symptoms of bird flu in people?
Some people with bird flu will experience no symptoms, while others can have symptoms ranging from mild to severe. Mild symptoms can include eye redness and irritation, a low fever, cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, headaches and fatigue. People with more serious cases can experience high fever, shortness of breath, altered consciousness or seizures.
If people experience symptoms after contact with sick or dead birds, they should notify their local health department and any health care facilities they visit while seeking medical attention, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.
Who’s most at risk of catching the bird flu?
People who work with animals are the most at-risk. That includes poultry, dairy and other livestock workers, as well as veterinarians and dairy lab workers. People with backyard flocks of chickens are also at higher risk.
Nearly all of the confirmed human cases so far were in people who were exposed through dairy herds or poultry farms, according to the CDC.
Can you catch bird flu by drinking milk, or eating eggs, beef or poultry?
You cannot catch the virus by eating cooked poultry, eggs or beef or by drinking pasteurized milk. Pasteurization kills the virus, as does cooking meat, eggs and poultry to the appropriate internal temperatures (165 degrees for eggs and poultry, 160 degrees for ground beef and 145 degrees for whole cuts of beef).
It’s still unknown whether people can catch bird flu by drinking raw milk, according to the CDC. But there have been reports of house cats in Los Angeles County that tested positive for bird flu after they consumed raw milk and died.
“There’s no reason to consume raw milk for so many other reasons besides this, but this just adds to that list,” said Katrine Wallace, an epidemiologist at University of Illinois Chicago’s School of Public Health.
What should people do to protect themselves?
People should avoid contact with sick or dead wild birds, poultry and other animals, according to the CDC. If a person must dispose of dead birds, the Illinois Department of Public Health recommends wearing waterproof gloves, or using an inside-out plastic bag to pick up the birds. It also advises people to consider wearing a raincoat or disposable plastic trash bag over their clothes, and safety goggles and an N95 mask.
The CDC also recommends people avoid consuming or touching raw milk or raw milk products, and make sure they cook poultry, eggs and beef to safe internal temperatures.
Can pets catch the bird flu?
Yes, pets can catch the bird flu, though cats seem more susceptible to it than dogs, said Dr. Sandra Faeh, a veterinarian and president of the American Veterinary Medical Association, headquartered in Schaumburg.
“We do still consider it a pretty low threat for our pets, and we don’t want people to panic, but there are things they can do,” Faeh said.
She and the association advise pet owners to keep their cats indoors, and avoid feeding pets raw meat, raw poultry and unpasteurized milk. Pet owners may also want to keep dogs on shorter leashes when outside, so they have more control if the dog spots a dead or sick bird or livestock, Faeh said.
If a pet is ill, people should call their veterinarian. If the pet has had exposure to sick or dead birds, Faeh recommends people tell their veterinarian ahead of any visit, in case the veterinarian wants to take extra precautions.
Should people worry about this becoming another pandemic?
Murphy calls that a “valid fear.” But he and other experts caution that we’re not at that point, at the moment.
So far, people can’t catch the virus from other people, and the current public health risk of bird flu is low, according to the CDC.
But there’s always a chance the virus could mutate in a way that would allow humans to pass it to other humans. The CDC analyzed the virus in specimens collected from the man who died in Louisiana and found mutations that were not present in the virus in poultry samples from his property, suggesting the mutations in the virus occurred after the man caught it.
“People should be concerned not from what’s happening today but what could happen tomorrow because the potential is, with a few minor mutations in the virus, it could become more lethal and become more transmittable, especially person-to-person,” Murphy said.
Some people are concerned about how dangerous bird flu might be if it became transmissible between people. That’s because about half of about 950 human cases reported outside the U.S. to the World Health Organization between 2003 and 2024 resulted in death.
Wallace, however, warned that the actual mortality rate is probably nowhere near that high, noting that many people who catch the virus likely have no symptoms or only mild symptoms and are never tested. She also pointed out that of the 66 confirmed cases in the U.S., one person has died.
Wallace said Illinois residents should probably be more concerned, at this point, about seasonal respiratory illnesses, such as the regular flu, COVID-19 and whooping cough, than about bird flu.
“A lot of things are going around that are very real threats to people (right now), and bird flu I would put in a (different) category than that,” Wallace said. “That being said, it’s something being watched actively.”
