Bird flu infects three more Colorado poultry farm workers

Jul 26, 2024

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment on Thursday announced three additional human cases of bird flu among poultry farm workers, bringing the total number of confirmed human cases in the U.S. this year to 13.

The three new cases involved poultry farm workers who were killing infected chickens at a Weld County egg farm, the health department said. The workers are experiencing mild illness and have been offered antiviral drugs, said the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in a statement.

Neither the state health department nor CDC provided the name of the egg farm.
The bird flu outbreak has infected poultry in nearly every U.S. state since early 2022. Since March, the virus has been circulating among dairy cattle and has infected more than 170 herds in 13 states, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Since April, four dairy farm workers and nine poultry farm workers have been infected with the virus in Colorado, Michigan and Texas.

The CDC said the risk to the general public from bird flu remains low, but that farm workers exposed to infected animals should use personal protective equipment (PPE).

Six workers culling infected chickens at a different Colorado chicken farm earlier this month were working without effective PPE, according to the CDC.

A CDC field team is deployed in Colorado to support its ongoing outbreak response, the agency said.

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Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.