Texas dairy farm worker’s case may be first where bird flu virus spread from mammal to human, scientists say

A new report on the first human bird flu case tied to the outbreak in cows in the United States suggests that the Texas man may be the first detected case of the H5N1 virus transmitting from a mammal to a person.

Nearly 900 people in 23 countries have been infected with the H5N1 bird flu virus since it started spreading from Southeast Asia in late 2003. But previous human cases were all linked to transmission from infected birds, typically domestic poultry.