In other developments, CDC and Ohio partners launched a serosurvey among bovine veterinary workers who attended a recent professional conference.

A third close contact of a patient in Missouri who was hospitalized with H5N1 bird flu has reported that they also experienced symptoms, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday.

Mystery H5 flu case had a close contact who was ill at same time; CDC hopes blood tests will show if there was a connection.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on September 13 shared new information from Missouri officials on recently reported human H5 avian flu case, including that a household contact got sick with similar symptoms the same day and that a healthcare worker had mild symptoms.

A close contact of someone with bird flu became ill on the same day, the C.D.C. reported. But the second person was not tested, and the cause of the illness is unknown.

A second health worker who cared for a person hospitalized in Missouri with H5N1 bird flu developed mild respiratory symptoms but was not tested for influenza, the CDC reported.

In a disclosure that can't eliminate the possibility that bird flu may have spread from one human to another for the first time, U.S. health officials have reported that a person who lived with a Missouri resident infected with H5N1 became sick the same day.

A second Missouri healthcare worker who had contact with a hospitalized patient infected with bird flu developed mild respiratory symptoms but was not tested for the virus, U.S. officials said on Friday.