CLEVELAND, Ohio – A Mercer County farm worker has likely come down with the state’s first human case of the bird flu, the Ohio Department of Health reported Wednesday. The man had been in contact with dead poultry infected with the virus. Ohio has led the nation recently in the number of commercial birds affected by the bird flu.

A farmer in Mercer County, Ohio has been infected with bird flu, the Ohio Department of Health announced Wednesday. He is one of dozens of people nationwide infected during the current outbreak.

While the risk to Ohioans is low, the best way to prevent bird flu is to avoid unprotected exposures to sick or dead birds or to their environment,” said ODH Director Bruce V