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Today, the Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) announced the state's first presumptive human H5N1 highly pathogenic avian flu case. The patient, a resident of southwestern Louisiana who was exposed to sick and dead birds with suspected infection, has been hospitalized. Also today, the California Department of Public Health reported another probable human case of H5N1 in a dairy farm worker, raising the state's total to 34, all but 1 in people with occupational exposure. The sample tested positive at a local lab, but confirmatory testing at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was negative. (Van Beusekom, 12/13)

State agriculture officials Saturday announced a raw milk recall from Stanislaus County producer Valley Milk Simply Bottled, a news report said. Officials found H5N1 bird flu in bulk milk tanks produced by the Modesto-based raw milk dairy, according to the news agency YubaNet. The order applies to all Valley Milk Simply Bottled raw cow milk and Desi Milk raw cow milk distributed in quart, half-gallon and one-gallon plastic jugs with a code date of Dec. 23 through Dec. 30 marked on the container. (Rust, 12/14)

There are two confirmed cases of H5N1 bird flu in San Joaquin County farmworkers, health officials there said Friday. The farmworkers, officials said, had mild symptoms and are recovering. Both were exposed to infected animals, according to the San Joaquin County Public Health Services. Officials said that they are monitoring the farmworkers, in addition to providing flu vaccinations and distributing educational resources to farms. (Parker, 12/13)

San Francisco health officials Friday reported the first flu-related death this respiratory virus season, an adult older than 65 who had not gotten the annual influenza vaccine. Each respiratory virus season, which generally runs from November through February and peaks around late December, the flu kills thousands of Americans. During the 2023-24 season, 579 people in California died from the virus, according to state data. (Ho, 12/13)

lu activity continues to rise, and COVID-19 indicators are also starting to rise from very low levels, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said today in its weekly respiratory virus illness updates. ... "We predict COVID-19 illness to increase in the coming weeks, as it usually does in the winter," the CDC said. Wastewater detections are still in the low range and are highest in the Midwest, followed by the West and the South. (Schnirring, 12/13)

‘Tis the season in Colorado to be hip-deep in people in the hospital with COVID-19 — except not this year. In each of Colorado’s previous four years living with the virus, the state has seen COVID hospitalizations surge in the late summer and through the fall, with a peak just before Thanksgiving that gradually recedes. (Ingold, 12/16)

A study today demonstrates that last year, about 8% of US adults reported that they ever had long COVID, and those who currently had the condition or currently had activity-limiting long COVID were both under 4%, but a leading US expert on long COVID explains the limitations of such data and why estimates of the prevalence of the condition can vary so widely. Long COVID—also known as post-COVID condition (PCC)—is generally defined as having symptoms 3 months or longer after an acute COVID-19 infection. (Wappes, 12/13)

The Florida Department of Health estimated that the number of dengue cases from patients who traveled overseas would be high, but the total is more than quadrupled by what scientists had expected. The state estimated that 2024 would bring 214 dengue travel cases. So far, the count is at 859. (Pedersen, 12/13)