BATON ROUGE — The Louisiana Department of Health announced its first confirmed human case of bird flu. The person, who is from southwestern Louisiana and is currently in the hospital, is one of 60 cases from around the country as of December 2024.

Of the 60 confirmed virus cases in humans, none of them have involved human-to-human transmission.

"There are spillover risks, and that is what we are seeing right now, which is when a virus comes from an animal population into the human population," said Dr. Rebecca Christofferson from LSU's Veterinarian School.

She says the virus can spread from animals to humans in several ways.

"It can spread through the air; cows sneeze, and chickens also cough and sneeze, creating airborne virus particles," Christofferson said. 

Animals such as cattle, birds, and chickens can carry the virus. When humans contract it, the symptoms are similar to those of the regular flu—sore throat, cough, runny or stuffy nose, fever or chills, headache, fatigue, muscle or body aches, or even diarrhea.

The risks do not come from cooking raw chicken meat and eggs, but Christofferson says avoiding drinking raw milk and practicing standard personal protective measures could help combat it as well.

"If you have to touch an infected or sick animal, just make sure you are wearing protection, like a mask—wash your hands, wear gloves, and wash your hands anyway with soap and warm water. All the things you would do to protect yourself from human influenza would be recommended here as well," Christofferson said.

Christofferson says if you got your flu shot this year, that should offer some resistance against the bird flu, and she also says there are no concerns about a large outbreak of bird flu at this point.