A child who visited Marin County during Thanksgiving week is being tested for a possible infection of H5N1, the bird flu.
Marin’s public health officer, Dr. Lisa Santora, said the child tested positive for influenza type A, a category that includes bird flu. The child had been visiting from out of state for the holiday.
“Additional local and state testing was unable to confirm if a seasonal flu or avian flu subtypes,” Santora said.
The staff submitted a specimen from the patient to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC. The county expects to receive the test results by the end of the week, Santora said Monday.
H5N1, which typically infects poultry flocks and wild birds, has been transmitted to at least 58 people in the United States this year, according to the CDC. Thirty-two cases have been reported in California.
A human case of H5N1 was reported in Alameda County last month. Authorities do not know the patient’s source of exposure, the Marin County public health staff reported.
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