It’s the season for sniffles and sore throats, which means that scientists are monitoring the usual suspects like influenza, RSV, and COVID-19. But they’re also watching another virus this winter: H5N1 avian influenza, or bird flu.
U.S. health agencies say that the virus currently poses a low risk to the general public, even though it is spreading widely among chickens, cows, and other animals. There have been 55 confirmed human cases in the U.S., according to the latest statistics from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and all but two of those people had been exposed to sick poultry or cattle. There is currently no evidence that the people who have gotten sick have infected other people, according to the CDC.
Nonetheless, researchers are tracking the virus in case that situation changes. Recently, a teenager in Canada was hospitalized after being infected with bird flu—and when researchers analyzed the genetic sequence of the virus that sickened the teen, they reportedly found that it had undergone mutations that could allow it to spread more easily among humans. The individual doesn’t seem to have infected anyone else, but the findings underscore the possibility that bird flu could one day become a bigger risk to the general public.
Right now, experts say there’s not much for the average person to worry about. (Just don’t drink raw milk, which can harbor the virus, and don’t touch animals that are dead or appear to be sick.) If you’re curious about the signs and symptoms of bird flu, though, here’s what to know.
What are the symptoms of bird flu?
Many of the people in the U.S. who have caught bird flu have reported conjunctivitis-like eye issues, including eye redness, discomfort, and discharge. That seems to be because the virus can target cells in the human eye. Farm workers who have been sickened on the job may have also been eye-level with infected animals.
Bird flu can also cause respiratory and classic flu-like symptoms, including cough, runny nose, fever, sore throat, body aches, headaches, fatigue, shortness of breath, and pneumonia, the CDC says. Some people in the U.S. who have caught bird flu have experienced respiratory symptoms as well.
How can you tell the difference between bird flu and regular flu?
Bird flu and seasonal flu can look similar—but if you develop flu-like symptoms, chances are very good that it’s just the regular flu or another routine winter illness. There is no indication that bird flu is spreading among the general U.S. population, the CDC says.
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Bird flu can be diagnosed by testing samples taken from a sick person’s nose, throat, or eye, but testing is primarily recommended for people who have symptoms and have been recently exposed to animals that may be sick.
Is bird flu serious?
The small number of cases reported in the U.S. have so far been mild, with none requiring hospitalization. But bird flu can be serious. The infected teenager in Canada, for example, was hospitalized and in critical condition.
People have also died during previous bird flu outbreaks. From January 2003 to November 2024, more than 900 human H5N1 cases were recorded in 24 countries, and about half of them were fatal, according to World Health Organization statistics. But those figures likely miss people with milder, potentially undetected illnesses. It is also unclear how deadly the virus would be if it evolved to spread widely from person-to-person, which never happened in these past outbreaks.
Are bird flu vaccines available?
Some companies make vaccines that can be used against bird flu, and the U.S. government recently distributed $72 million to ensure doses of these vaccines can be made available quickly if necessary.
But don’t expect to find bird flu vaccines at your local pharmacy; they’re not available to the public right now. Instead, focus on getting your regular flu shot if you haven’t already. It won’t work against bird flu, but it can help protect you against the virus you’re far more likely to encounter this season.
