Public health officials have just reported the first known “severe” case of bird flu in the United States. There are now 61 confirmed cases across eight states. This week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that a person had been hospitalized with a “severe case” of bird flu.

The CDC has declared the first “severe” case of H5N1 bird flu in the U.S., according to a press release published Wednesday. The good news? The person who contracted the virus appears to have gotten it from backyard poultry,

Bird flu, also know as H5N1 or avian influenza, is a highly contagious disease among birds and poultry. There has never been a case, however, where humans have spread the bird flu to each other. Even with the first severe human case, the CDC said the ...