Humans infected by the virus are largely outside the United States and their overall infections have been minimal. 

A Texas man has contracted a “highly pathogenic” bird flu that has spread through U.S. dairy cows in five states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Authorities, however, are playing down the wider risk to public health from the strain, according to a statement from the CDC Monday.

“This infection does not change the H5N1 bird flu human health risk assessment for the U.S. general public, which CDC considers to be low,” it said.

According to The Hill, the last time someone was infected with avian bird flu was two years ago and the first instance of this new, super variant of bird flu was last month. Fortunately, the Texas patient only complained of eye inflammation as their only symptom. Hopefully, the individual will recover quickly and there is no effort on the part of the media to make this into another COVID-19-style outbreak.

PHOTO CREDIT: Birds that have been put down because of avian influenza. – By Roee Shpernik, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=54534620