A child in San Francisco who had red eyes and a fever had a probable case of H5N1 bird flu, according to the city’s Department of Public Health.

A variant of the virus caused disease in people in 1997, when there was a small but deadly outbreak in Hong Kong. Eighteen people had confirmed diagnoses, and six of them died. Since then, there have been sporadic cases around the world—but no large outbreaks.

Bird Flu Is One Step Closer to Mixing with Seasonal Flu Virus and Becoming a Pandemic Wastewater in several Californian cities, including San Francisco and Los Angeles, recently tested positive for bird flu. But understanding disease risk and exposure to humans isn’t so straightforward

Though cats are at risk of contracting the disease, the CDC says the chances of contracting the virus are low in livestock, cats and people.

Medical experts advise that people should get a vaccine for the bird flu when it becomes commercially available. One doctor said the most at-risk patients should be first.

The experiment of whether H5 can ever be successful in human populations is happening before our eyes,” Seema Lakdawala, a flu virologist at Emory University, told me. “And we are doing nothing to stop it.

San Francisco health officials said Friday that a presumptive case of H5N1 bird flu had been identified in a San Francisco resident. The individual was a child, according to the San Francisco Department of Public Health (SFDPH).

San Francisco public-health officials said Friday the bird-flu risk to the general public is low following the discovery of The City’s first presumptive case. The Department of Public Health announced the discovery days after U.