The United States has reported its first death from bird flu, a 65-year-old patient who passed away after being hospitalized on December 18. The Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) confirmed the death on Monday. This patient was the first in the country to be hospitalized due to H5N1, the bird flu virus.
The LDH investigation found no other cases of H5N1 or evidence that the virus spread from person to person. The patient remains the only human case of H5N1 in Louisiana, and the general public’s risk remains low, according to the state health agency.
Since April, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported 66 human cases of bird flu in the US, but none have been as severe as the case in Louisiana. Authorities believe the patient contracted the virus after coming into contact with backyard chickens and wild birds. Although the risk to humans is still considered low, millions of birds and livestock have been killed to prevent further spread of the virus.
The CDC says most of the human cases in the US have been linked to people working with contaminated livestock. Around 40 of the 66 cases are connected to dairy herds, and 23 are related to farm work or culling operations.
California declared a state of emergency in mid-December after dairy cows tested positive for bird flu. As of Monday, the CDC reported 701 confirmed cases in dairy cattle in the state. Although many human cases have been reported in California, no person-to-person transmission has been found, and all but one case in the state are linked to cattle.
The CDC also reported that genetic analysis of the Louisiana case showed the virus may have mutated inside the patient. This mutation could help the virus attach better to human airways. While this development is concerning, experts say it’s not a sign that the virus is close to being easily transmitted between people. According to Michael Osterholm, an infectious disease researcher at the University of Minnesota, this mutation is a “key in the lock,” but it doesn’t mean the virus can now spread easily between humans.
The World Health Organization (WHO) also stated that global infections from bird flu remain “minor” in their impact.
