HPAI is considered low risk to humans, the agency said, and there have been no human cases in New England during the current outbreak. The post Bird flu detected in small backyard flock in Vermont appeared first on Boston.

"Low risk to human health" The agency said bird flu "is considered to be low risk to human health," but the people who came in contact with the infected birds and their surroundin

Vermont officials reported an H5N1 bird flu outbreak in a backyard flock, leading to the culling of affected birds.

A backyard flock in Vermont was sickened with H5N1, agricultural officials said on Thursday, following other reports of bird flu-related animal deaths this month beyond commercial farms and wildlife.

Federal health officials say that not only has a Louisiana resident contracted the first severe case of bird flu in the U.S., but that the virus likely mutated in the patient. The findings raise concern regarding the adaptability of the virus.

A new bird flu mutation of H5N1 has been discovered in a patient in the US state of Louisiana. Public health officials are concerned the new strain may rapidly develop, increasing its ability to affect humans.

The CDC stressed there has been no known transmission of the virus from the Louisiana patient to anyone else. LOUISIANA, USA — The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said this week that a genetic analysis suggests the bird flu virus mutated inside a Louisiana patient who contracted the nation’s first severe case of the illness.