The first image of a Texas farm worker infected with bird flu from a cow shows he suffered bleeding in his eyeballs.
It is thought to be the first known case of mammal-to-human transmission and comes as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warned bird flu (H5N1) viruses “pose pandemic potential.”
The dairy worker attended a hospital in March after experiencing painful red, weeping eyes with burst blood vessels.
According to a letter published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Friday, his eyes began to swell up though he had no fever, and an examination showed his lungs were clear.
The journal also contained the image of the infected man, alongside the scientific term for his eye condition: conjunctivitis with subconjunctival hemorrhage.
He told investigators he had not been in contact with sick or dead birds but had repeatedly had direct, close contact with dairy cows in an area known to have infected herds.
Swabs of his eyes revealed a substantial presence of the H5N1 virus, though little was found in his lungs.
This has led researchers to consider whether he was infected through the eyes by rubbing them with contaminated hands or by being splashed with contaminated liquid – such as milk.
In the New England Journal of Medicine report, CDC epidemiologists said they were unable to access the farm where he was infected, which prevented them from researching precisely how workers may have been exposed.
