Louisiana health officials reported the first human death linked to bird flu in the United States on Monday, noting that the patient suffered from pre-existing medical conditions.
The patient, aged over 65, had been hospitalized for a respiratory illness and was the first serious case of human infection with the H5N1 virus detected in the United States.
The mid-December announcement of the patient’s “critical” condition sparked concern about the risk of a possible avian flu pandemic in the United States, with similar cases reported around the world. .
“The patient contracted H5N1 after exposure to a combination of non-commercial flocks and wild birds,” the Louisiana Department of Health said in a statement.
Despite the death, the public health risk posed by avian flu remains “low”, the statement said, adding that no human-to-human transmission has been detected.
“While the current public health risk remains low, people who work with birds, poultry or cows, or are exposed to them recreationally, are at higher risk,” it warns.
Genetic sequencing showed that the H5N1 virus that infected the Louisiana patient was different from the version of the virus detected in many dairy herds and poultry farms across the country.
H5N1 was first detected in 1996, but since 2020 the number of outbreaks among bird flocks has exploded, while an increasing number of mammal species have been affected.
Experts fear that high circulation of the virus among mammals could lead to mutations that would make it easier to spread between humans.
The Sabah Daily News Bulletin
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