The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed that a child from the San Francisco Bay Area tested positive for bird flu.
The confirmation, released on Friday, follows an initial report from the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) about the child. An initial test was carried out and returned a positive result, but had to be confirmed by the CDC.
The CDC says the child showed mild symptoms and was given antiviral treatment.
Investigators are now looking into how the child caught the virus. The child had no known contact with an infected animal, but could have come into contact with wild birds.
The rest of the child’s family tested negative for the virus.
There have now been 55 confirmed cases of bird flu in the US in 2024, 29 of which have been in California. The majority were exposed to infected dairy cattle and experienced mild symptoms.
In September, a Missouri man also tested positive for the virus after no know contact with infected animals.
The case was the first in the US to be detected by means of routine surveillance and testing, rather than monitoring of groups, especially farm workers, deemed to be at high risk of infection.
The CDPH has urged the public to remain calm, stressing that, at this stage, there is no evidence of human-to-human transmission.