Person Who Cared for Missouri Bird Flu Patient Had Symptoms, Too

Health authorities would have us believe that the bird flu case in Missouri was an isolated "one off" episode. That's apparently not accurate as there is now confirmation that the person who cared for the Missouri bird flu patient also had symptoms.

I saw MSN report today an update from the CDC which includes some curious information about bird flu in Missouri. So I don't misrepresent what the CDC said about the Missouri case, here are their exact words:

"Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services collected blood samples from the person who tested positive for H5N1 in Missouri and a household contact who became ill on the same day and was not tested"

The good news is both the patient and the person who cared for them have fully recovered, but I have questions. Call me a cynic, but why oh why would the health authorities not REQUIRE the person who was in contact with the bird flu patient who then displayed respiratory symptoms to be tested? I'm perplexed.

I'm not going to insinuate that there's a coverup by authorities about the bird flu cases in Missouri, but I just cannot understand how a sickness that is as serious as the bird flu wouldn't be monitored to the extreme.

The belief by the CDC and the Missouri Department of Health appears to be that both people were exposed to the same source and they still believe it's a "one off" situation. For the sake of all of us, let's hope they're correct.