The current risk to the general public from H5N1 bird flu is low. Dairy and poultry workers are at higher risk of getting H5N1.
While the overall risk to the general community remains unknown, people should follow these recommendations;
Food Safety:
- Do not prepare or eat unpasteurized (raw) milk or raw cheese. Raw milk and cheese have not gone through a process called pasteurization that kills disease-causing germs. For more information about how raw milk can make you sick, visit the CDC’s Raw Milk webpage.
- Cook beef and poultry products, including eggs, to the right temperature. For more information on minimal internal temperatures, refer to the CDC's instructions on preparing and consuming food.
Avoid contact with wild birds and sick or dead animals:
- Avoid contact with wild birds and keep pets away from wild birds.
- Avoid surfaces that may be contaminated with bird feces.
- Avoid unprotected exposures to sick or dead animals. If you find a sick or dead animal, do not attempt to touch or handle the animal with bare hands or clothing.
- If you find dead wild birds on your property, contact your State wildlife agency or State health department.
- State Wildlife Agencies - fishwildlife.org (search "member list")
- For other dead animals, contact your local animal control authority.
If you have job-related or recreational exposure to infected animals, including wild birds, poultry, and dairy cows, you are at greater risk of being exposed to H5N1 bird flu. These jobs may include farmers or workers on poultry and dairy farms, slaughterhouse workers, backyard bird flock owners, veterinarians and veterinary staff, and emergency responders. In addition to the recommendations above, you should:
- Contact your doctor if you feel sick and let them know you were around sick or infected animals.
- Get your seasonal flu vaccine. Everyone - especially workers at risk for exposure to bird flu - should get a seasonal flu vaccine. Although the seasonal flu vaccine will not protect against bird flu, it can decrease the risk of being infected with both viruses at the same time and reduce the chance of severe illness from seasonal flu.
- For workers: Follow CDC recommendations to protect yourself from H5N1 bird flu at work.
- For employers: Follow all CDC recommendations for worker protection to reduce risk of infection.
- For backyard flock owners: Follow the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Defend the Flock recommendations. If you think birds in your flock may have bird flu, follow CDC recommendations to protect yourself.