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The number of people infected with bird flu in the U.S. has risen to at least 31, federal health officials said Thursday, but there is no evidence of human-to-human spread after blood tests confirmed health workers in Missouri caring for a hospitalized patient were not infected. Speaking to reporters during a briefing, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) officials said multiple tests confirmed five symptomatic health workers did not have any evidence of infection. (Weixel, 10/24)

A Missouri resident who shared a home with a patient hospitalized with bird flu in August was also infected with the virus, federal officials reported on Thursday. But symptomatic health care workers who cared for the hospitalized patient were not infected, testing showed. The news eased worries among researchers that the virus, H5N1, had gained the ability to spread more efficiently among people. (Mandavilli and Anthes, 10/24)

Officials from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today said serologic testing has ruled out H5 avian flu infection among five healthcare workers who had symptoms around the time they were exposed to a patient in Missouri, though results suggest a household contact was likely infected at the same time. At a Department of Health and Human Services briefing today, CDC officials also said tests have confirmed H5 infection in two Washington poultry cullers, though the virus is the D.1.1 genotype, which is different that the B3.13 genotype circulating in US dairy cattle. (Schnirring, 10/24)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: Exclusive: Emails Reveal How Health Departments Struggle To Track Human Cases Of Bird Flu

Bird flu cases have more than doubled in the country within a few weeks, but researchers can’t determine why the spike is happening because surveillance for human infections has been patchy for seven months. Just this week, California reported its 15th infection in dairy workers and Washington state reported seven probable cases in poultry workers. Hundreds of emails from state and local health departments, obtained in records requests from �鶹Ů�� Health News, help reveal why. (Maxmen, 10/25)

A Colorado man has filed what appears to be the first lawsuit against McDonald’s over an E. coli outbreak linked to Quarter Pounder burgers that has killed one person and sickened nearly 50 others. The lawsuit, filed in Circuit Court in Cook County, Illinois, on Wednesday, alleges that Eric Stelly ate food from a Greeley, Colorado, McDonald’s on Oct. 4 and tested positive for E. coli a few days later. ... The lawsuit, which seeks more than $50,000 in damages, claims McDonald's was negligent in its handling and care of the food. (Novak Jones, 10/24)

A California-based produce company was the source of fresh onions linked to a deadly E. coli food poisoning outbreak at McDonald’s, officials with the restaurant chain said Thursday. Meanwhile, other fast-food restaurants — including Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, KFC and Burger King — pulled onions from some menus. McDonald’s officials said that Taylor Farms, of Salinas, California, sent onions to one distribution facility, which led the fast-food chain to remove Quarter Pounder hamburgers from restaurants in several states. McDonald’s didn’t say which facility it was. (Aleccia and Durbin, 10/24)

Yum! Brands Inc. and Burger King removed onions from some of their locations as the restaurant industry investigates an E. Coli outbreak first traced to McDonald’s Corp. Yum withdrew fresh onions from some Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and KFC locations “out of an abundance of caution,” the company said Thursday in a statement to Bloomberg News, without disclosing which stores and regions were affected or naming suppliers. (Sirtori, 10/24)