On January 6, the Louisiana Department of Health announced that a patient over 65 years old had died from H5N1. This is the first person to die from bird flu in the US, according to CNN.
Molecular image of H5N1 virus
PHOTO: US NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLergy and Infectious Diseases/AFP
The health department said the patient was hospitalized for a respiratory illness and by mid-December 2024, the situation became critical, alarming the US health system about the risk of an avian flu Pandemic.
The patient mentioned above had an underlying medical condition while test results showed that the H5N1 virus that sickened this person was different from the variant detected in dairy herds and chicken farms in the US. The patient comes into contact with birds raised in the garden and birds in the wild.
US health authorities believe that the risk of bird flu to people’s health remains low and no cases of human-to-human transmission have been detected.
However, authorities warn that people working on farms and those who frequently come into contact with livestock and poultry are at higher risk of getting the disease. The Department of Health recommends that people avoid contact with sources at risk of carrying the disease such as livestock, poultry, wild birds or other animals.
H5N1 was first discovered in 1996 but since 2000, the number of outbreaks in bird flocks has exploded and the number of mammals affected has also increased. Experts fear that the high spread of the virus among mammals could lead to mutations that make it easier to spread from person to person.
Since March 2023, there have been 66 confirmed cases of bird flu infection in the US, but most have mild symptoms and are people working on farms with sick chickens or cows, according to the newspaper. The Guardian. There are only two cases, an adult in Missouri and a child in California, and authorities have not yet determined the source of infection.
