Germany reported an outbreak of highly pathogenic H5N1 bird flu on a farm in the eastern region of Saxony near the border with the Czech Republic, the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) said on Monday.

Dhillon is an instructor in the Division of Global Health Equity at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Karan is an infectious disease physician and epidemiologist at Stanford University. Srikrishna is founder of Patient Knowhow.

"Even sporadic cases of human-to-human transmission indicate a big change in the virus and suggest it is exploring new directions in virus evolution that bring it closer to a pandemic virus," James Lawler, MD, MPH, of the University of Nebraska Medical Center's Global Center for Health Security, previously told MedPage Today.

At least one household member and six healthcare workers who encountered the index case-patient are being investigated after showing symptoms of viral infection.

Germany reported an outbreak of highly pathogenic H5N1 bird flu on a farm in the eastern region of Saxony near the border with the Czech Republic, Reuters reported, citing the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) on Monday.

After a patient with bird flu was hospitalized last month, state and federal health officials first determined the patient may have infected one household member and two hospital workers. However, "Missouri has since identified four additional health care workers who later developed mild respiratory symptoms,

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

In what could be the first cases of bird flu spreading between humans in the United States, a group of potential H5N1 infections in Missouri has now grown to eight. However, state health officials are still awaiting antibody tests to confirm whether the H5N1 infection is growing,