Health

Dairy Workers May Have Passed Bird Flu to Pet Cats, CDC Study Suggests

Published

1 year ago

February 20, 2025

Dairy Workers May Have Passed Bird Flu to Pet Cats, CDC Study Suggests

Two dairy workers in Michigan may have transmitted bird flu to their pet cats last May, suggests a new study published on Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In one household, infected cats may also have passed the virus to other people in the home, but limited evidence makes it difficult to ascertain the possibility.

The results are from a study that was scheduled to be published in January but was delayed by the Trump administration’s pause on communications from the C.D.C.

A single data table from the new report briefly appeared online two weeks ago in a paper on the wildfires in California, then quickly disappeared. That odd incident prompted calls from public health experts for the study’s release.

The new paper still leaves major questions unanswered, including how the cats first became infected and whether farmworkers spread the virus to the cats and to other people in the household, experts said.

“I don’t think we can say for sure if this is human-to-cat or cat-to-human or cat-from-something-else,” said Jennifer Nuzzo, director of the Pandemic Center at the Brown University School of Public Health.

Officials in Michigan began investigating two households last May when exclusively indoor cats showed respiratory and neurological symptoms and, after death, tested positive for the virus, called H5N1. The officials interviewed the cats’ owners and household members and offered to test them for the virus.

The owners of both cats were dairy workers. The first farmworker did not work with cows directly, and the farm was not known to have infected herds. But the worker reported that many of the barn cats on the farm’s premises recently died. The worker also reported having experienced vomiting and diarrhea before the first household cat became ill.

The second farmworker reported being splashed in the face and eyes with milk and experiencing eye irritation. Both workers declined to be tested.

“This study provides yet more concerning evidence that farmworkers with high-risk exposures may refuse testing,” Dr. Nuzzo said.

“In order to protect people and stay ahead of this virus, we need to remove disincentives for patients to get tested,” she added. “People should not fear that testing positive will cause financial distress or other personal harms.”

In the household of the first farmworker, the first cat to become ill showed decreased appetite, lack of grooming, abnormal gait and lethargy, and quickly deteriorated. She was euthanized on the fourth day of illness.

A second cat in the household developed watery eye discharge, rapid breathing and decreased appetite four days after the first cat became ill. This cat recovered and was not tested for the virus. A third cat had no symptoms and tested negative for the virus 11 days after the first cat became ill.

Neither the cats nor the humans in the household drank unpasteurized milk. How the cats might have become infected is unclear, but experts said that the farmworkers were likely to have become infected with H5N1 at their workplace and to have brought the virus home to their cats.

“If you love your cat, you probably give it head kisses if it lets you,” said Kristen K. Coleman, an infectious disease researcher at the University of Maryland.

Three people in the household — an adult and two adolescents — tested negative for H5N1. Six days after the first cat became sick, one of the adolescents became ill with a cough, sore throat and body aches, and the other reported a cough that was attributed to allergies.

But because the adolescents were tested late — 11 days after the first cat became sick — it was not impossible that they became infected with H5N1 that they picked up from the cats, Dr. Coleman said.

Later in May, a pet cat in the second household developed severe neurological symptoms, including anorexia and minimal movement, and died within a day; the cat tested positive for bird flu after its death.

The cat’s owner transported unpasteurized milk, including from farms with known bird flu outbreaks. According to the study, the owner “did not wear personal protective equipment (PPE) while handling raw milk; reported frequent milk splash exposures to the face, eyes and clothing; and did not remove work clothing before entering the home when returning from work.”

The cat that became ill was known to “roll in the owner’s work clothes,” the study noted.

Virus in raw milk splattered on those clothes may be the source of infection in the cat, said Dr. Keith Poulsen, the director of the Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory.

“At this point, I think the higher risk is their exposure from raw dairy products,” he said. “There’s so much virus in the milk.”

Of 24 veterinary staff members who were potentially exposed to the infected cats, seven reported symptoms such as nasal congestion and headache. Only five agreed to testing; all were negative.

Dr. Coleman recommended that veterinarians remain alert to the possibility of bird flu infections when they see sick cats. “Pet owners should not have to rely on postmortem sampling to get a diagnosis,” she said.

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Health

‘SuperAgers’ stay mentally sharp well past 80, as scientists reveal the reason

Published

46 minutes ago

February 27, 2026

Press Room

‘SuperAgers’ stay mentally sharp well past 80, as scientists reveal the reason

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On the lookout

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A doctor says the second wave of flu season may be worse than previous years. (iStock)

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Stat of the week

More than 59% of women may have high blood pressure by 2050, according to a new report from the American Heart Association.

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This article was written by Fox News staff.

Health

Heart disease threat projected to climb sharply for key demographic

Published

13 hours ago

February 27, 2026

Press Room

Heart disease threat projected to climb sharply for key demographic

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A new report by the American Heart Association (AHA) included some troubling predictions for the future of women’s health.

The forecast, published in the journal Circulation on Wednesday, projected increases in various comorbidities in American females by 2050.

More than 59% of women were predicted to have high blood pressure, up from less than 49% currently.

The review also projected that more than 25% of women will have diabetes, compared to about 15% today, and more than 61% will have obesity, compared to 44% currently.

As a result of these risk factors, the prevalence of cardiovascular disease and stroke is expected to rise to 14.4% from 10.7%.

The prevalence of cardiovascular disease and stroke in women is expected to rise to 14.4% from 10.7% by 2050. (iStock)

Not all trends were negative, as unhealthy cholesterol prevalence is expected to drop to about 22% from more than 42% today, the report stated.

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Dr. Elizabeth Klodas, a cardiologist and founder of Step One Foods in Minnesota, commented on these “jarring findings.”

“The fact that on our current trajectory, cardiometabolic disease is projected to explode in women within one generation should be a huge wake-up call,” she told Fox News Digital.

NEARLY 90% OF AMERICANS AT RISK OF SILENT DISEASE — HERE’S WHAT TO KNOW

“Hypertension, diabetes, obesity — these are all major risk factors for heart disease, and we are already seeing what those risks are driving. Heart disease is the No. 1 killer of women, eclipsing all other causes of death, including breast cancer.”

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death for women in the U.S. and around the world. (iStock)

Klodas warned that heart disease starts early, progresses “stealthily,” and can present “out of the blue in devastating ways.”

The AHA published another study on Thursday revealing one million hospitalizations, showing that heart attack deaths are climbing among adults below the age of 55.

The more alarming finding, according to Klodas, is that young women were found more likely to die after their first heart attack than men of the same age.

DOCTOR SHARES 3 SIMPLE CHANGES TO STAY HEALTHY AND INDEPENDENT AS YOU AGE

“This is all especially tragic since heart disease is almost entirely preventable,” she said. “The earlier you start, the better.”

Children can show early evidence of plaque deposition in their arteries, which can be reversed through lifestyle changes if “undertaken early enough and aggressively enough,” according to the expert.

Moving more is one part of protecting a healthy heart, according to experts. (iStock)

Klodas suggested that rising heart conditions are associated with traditional risk factors, like smoking, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, obesity and a sedentary lifestyle.

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Doctors are also seeing higher rates of preeclampsia, or high blood pressure during pregnancy, as well as gestational diabetes. Klodas noted that these are sex-specific risk factors that don’t typically contribute to complications until after menopause.

The best way to protect a healthy heart is to “do the basics,” Klodas recommended, including the following lifestyle habits.

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Klodas especially emphasized making improvements to diet, as the food people eat affects “every single risk factor that the AHA’s report highlights.”

“High blood pressure, high blood sugar, high cholesterol, excess weight – these are all conditions that are driven in part or in whole by food,” she said. “We eat multiple times every single day, which means what we eat has profound cumulative effects over time.”

“Even a small improvement in dietary intake, when maintained, can have a massive positive impact on health,” a doctor said. (iStock)

“Even a small improvement in dietary intake, when maintained, can have a massive positive impact on health.”

The doctor also recommends changing out a few snacks per day for healthier choices, which has been proven to “yield medication-level cholesterol reductions” in a month.

TEST YOURSELF WITH OUR LATEST LIFESTYLE QUIZ

“Keep up that small change and, over the course of a year, you could also lose 20 pounds and reduce your sodium intake enough to avoid blood pressure-lowering medications,” Klodas added.

“Women should not view the AHA report as inevitable. We have power over our health destinies. We just need to use it.”

Angelica Stabile is a lifestyle reporter for Fox News Digital.

Health

Vanessa Williams, 62, Opens up About Weight Loss and HRT After Menopause

Published

1 day ago

February 26, 2026

Press Room

Vanessa Williams, 62, Opens up About Weight Loss and HRT After Menopause

Vanessa Williams Opens up About Weight Loss and HRT | Woman’s World

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