California officials have identified a possible case of bird flu in a child who tested positive for mild upper respiratory symptoms, the state Department of Public Health announced Tuesday.

The child had no known contact with an infected animal, the agency said, but public health experts are investigating possible exposure to wild birds.

Human infections with avian influenza viruses are rare, and no person-to-person spread has been detected in California or the United States.

Since early October, California has reported 26 confirmed human cases of bird flu, all from direct contact with infected dairy cows. So far, all have reported mild symptoms — mainly conjunctivitis, commonly known as pink eye — and none have been hospitalized.

State officials said they are working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to investigate the cause of the child’s initial positive test, and samples have been sent to the CDC for confirmatory testing.

The positive test showed a low-level detection of the virus, indicating that the child was probably not infectious to others. Other family members showed mild respiratory symptoms, but all tested negative for bird flu and were not at all suspected of having the virus, officials said.

Repeat bird flu tests on the child four days later came back negative, and further tests showed the child also tested positive for respiratory viruses that could be the cause of cold and flu symptoms.

Public health officials said the child attended daycare with mild symptoms before the test was reported as a possible bird flu infection. Local public health officials have contacted potentially exposed caregivers and families as an abundance of caution to conduct health screenings for symptoms and provide connections to treatment and preventive testing if they develop symptoms.

“It is natural for people to be concerned and we want to reinforce to parents, carers and families that based on the information and data we have, we do not believe the child was infectious – and no human-to-human spread of the bird. influenza has been documented in any country for more than 15 years,” California Department of Public Health Director and State Public Health Officer Tomás Aragón said in a statement.

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