Federal health officials are closely monitoring an outbreak of highly pathogenic bird influenza that has devastated poultry farms on the East Coast and in the Midwest in recent days. While millions of birds have been culled due to avian influenza across the United States, officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said this week that there are no signs this strain of bird flu poses a threat to people yet. No cases of H5N1, the strain, have been detected among people in the U.S., said CDC spokesperson Kate Grusich. “Based on past experience with earlier H5N1 bird flu viruses—and what is known about this group of viruses from existing epidemiologic and genetic sequence data—CDC believes the health risk to the general public is low,” Grusich told NBC News on Wednesday. However, officials are watching to see whether the strain mutates, potentially posing a risk to people. Data so far …