Gruesome first photo of Texas dairy farm worker who caught bird flu from a cow ... trends now
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This is the first image of the Texas dairy farm worker who caught bird flu from a cow.
While the man suffered 'very mild' symptoms, the photo shows how the virus caused blood vessels in his eyes to pop, leading to bleeding on the surface of his eyeballs.
In an official case report published Friday, experts at the CDC said they found 'strong evidence' via genetic data that he caught the virus from an infected cow in March.
The confirmation marks the first instance of the H5N1 virus jumping from mammals to humans - a milestone that is of 'enormous concern' to the World Health Organization.
The above picture of the symptoms suffered by the dairy farmer in Texas who caught bird flu was published in a report online from CDC officials
The image and further details on the case were revealed in a report published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
They said the patient also suffered from a subconjunctival hemorrhage, or bleeding just beneath the conjunctiva, or clear surface covering the white part of the eye.
Scientists also noted a watery fluid that was being discharged from the right eye.
The patient is only the second person to be diagnosed with bird flu in the US, and the first globally thought to have caught the virus from a mammal.
Almost 900 people in 23 countries have been infected with the H5N1 strain of avian flu over the last two decades, but they were all linked to wild or kept birds.
They were working with cattle thought to be infected with bird flu at the time, which scientists say is the likely route of transmission.
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