NORTH CANTON, Ohio — Ohio has been leading the nation in bird flu cases.
Another example of the virus spreading was confirmed when News 5 learned that it had been found in a flock in Northeast Ohio.
The Ohio Department of Agriculture said bird flu was found in a backyard flock in Stark County. The exact location of the flock was not released.
"There was a flock that had detections. It does list the number of birds affected on the USDA website as 30," said Julianna Smith, an epidemiologist with the Stark County Health Department.
Smith said some of the birds were culled.
The case marked the first flock of any kind to be confirmed with the virus in Northeast Ohio in about a year.
"The current trend is that it is worsening. That's not unexpected," Smith said. "We have a lot more positive results across the country in the past couple of months than we have had in the past few years."
Beyond the new backyard flock infection, there have been dozens of Ohio commercial flocks affected by the bird flu, and nearly 8.5 million birds affected in the state in the past 30 days.
The first human case of bird flu was reported earlier this month in Mercer County.
Smith stressed there is no evidence of human-to-human to spread of the virus.
She said the 70 U.S. cases of bird flu in people have been generally mild and appear to be connected to contact with animals.
"Prolonged close contact with animals or the material like bedding, food, water— those kind of things— especially if they are sick or dying, that's higher risk," Smith said.
RELATED: 1st human case of Bird Flu reported in Ohio
If you spot a sick or dead bird, call the health department for education on what to do.
"We do recommend that people don't touch the dead birds with their hands and should protect themselves with a mask, ideally an N-95, or some other type of tight-fitting mask, wearing gloves and protecting themselves by double bagging any bird," Summit County Medical Director Dr. Erica Sobolewski said.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the current risk of bird flu for the general public is low. However, people with close, prolonged and unprotected contact with infected birds are at a higher risk.
