Hospital workers reported respiratory symptoms after encountering a Missouri patient with H5N1 who had not been exposed to farm animals. Officials say bird flu transmission is unlikely.

Missouri officials are under growing pressure from national public health experts to pinpoint the source of the state’s first human bird flu infection.

In what could be the first cases of bird flu spreading between humans in the United States, a group of potential H5N1 infections in Missouri has now grown to eight.

None of the health care workers or other contact have tested positive for avian flu antibodies so far — but could their illness signal human-to-human transmission?

As of Monday evening, there is only one confirmed human case of bird flu in Missouri. The single case is one of 15 reported nationwide since 2022. However, the recent Missouri case is unusual... because there is no known animal link to that case.