First death from H5N1 bird flu recorded in Louisiana
The first death from avian influenza type H5N1 has been recorded in the American state of Louisiana and in the whole USA, the local health department reports.
In late December, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported a mutation of the bird flu virus in a patient facing a severe course of illness.
“The Louisiana Department of Health reports the first human death in the United States from avian influenza,” reads a publication on the agency’s website.
As indicated in the message, the patient was over 65 years old and had comorbidities. According to the department, he contracted bird flu after contact with domestic and wild birds.
According to the department, the case remains the only case of human infection with avian flu in Louisiana at this time.
The department notes that the risk to the general population remains low.
Earlier, scientists from the U.S. Scripps Research Institute found that just one mutation is enough for a strain of highly pathogenic “bird flu” H5N1 to start spreading easily among humans. If this happens not in the laboratory, but in the wild, humanity faces a new pandemic, they noted.