Hundreds of farm workers exposed to a highly pathogenic strain of bird flu have been offered antiviral medication as a preventative measure in recent days, U.S. public health officials said.
To date, the virulent H5N2 influenza, which has infected turkeys and chickens on Midwestern poultry farms, has not affected humans. But because flu viruses are highly mutable, there is a worry that those in direct contact with infected birds could fall ill from the disease.
How severe such human infections could be is not known. But even if some people become ill, government researchers and public health experts said . . .
