The US reports its first human death linked to bird flu

The US reports its first human death linked to bird flu

The US reports its first human death linked to bird flu

Colored transmission electron microscope image of H5N1 virus particles

Scientific Photo Library

One person has died in Louisiana from the H5N1 bird flu virus. This is the first known death related to the virus in the United States. The Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) has not identified any additional H5N1 cases in the state nor found any evidence of human-to-human transmission, indicating that the risk to the general public remains low.

The person was hospitalized for the virus in December after contracting it from infected or dead birds in their backyard. They suffered from severe respiratory problems. It was the first serious case of H5N1 in the United States. The LDH announced their deaths on January 6, saying they were over 65 years old and had underlying health conditions.

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a total of 66 people in the US have tested positive for H5N1. Most of them developed mild symptoms such as eye redness and worked with infected cows or chickens.

H5N1, which has killed tens of millions of wild and domestic birds worldwide, has been circulating in dairy cows in the United States for nearly a year. Genetic analysis of samples collected from the person in Louisiana indicates that the person was infected with the D1.1 genotype of the virus, which is similar to viruses recently discovered in wild birds but different from the version found in cattle spreads. There is no evidence that the virus can be transmitted between people.

The analysis also identified several changes that could improve the virus’s ability to bind to cells in the human upper respiratory tract, where receptors for most bird flu viruses are largely lacking. According to the CDC, it’s likely that these changes occurred after the person was infected – every time someone gets infected with the bird flu virus, it gives it a chance to evolve and spread better among us. One of the changes was also observed in a person who became seriously ill with H5N1 in Canada in November.

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