Colorized transmission electron micrograph of Avian influenza A H5N1 viruses. Credit score: Public Area
Louisiana well being authorities on Monday reported the primary human dying in america linked to fowl flu, whereas noting the affected person had underlying medical circumstances and that basic dangers to the general public remained “low.”
The affected person, aged over 65, had been hospitalized within the southern state since a minimum of mid-December, when the US Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention (CDC) introduced it because the nation’s first severe case of human an infection from the H5N1 virus.
“While the current public health risk for the general public remains low, people who work with birds, poultry or cows, or have recreational exposure to them, are at higher risk,” the Louisiana Division of Well being mentioned in an announcement saying the dying.
It mentioned the affected person had “contracted H5N1 after exposure to a combination of a non-commercial backyard flock and wild birds,” however had detected no additional H5N1 infections nor proof of person-to-person transmission within the state.
The quantity of fowl flu circulating amongst animals and people has alarmed scientists over considerations it may mutate right into a extra transmissible type—doubtlessly triggering a lethal pandemic.
For the reason that starting the 2024, the CDC has recorded 66 instances of fowl flu in people in america.
“We have a lot of data that shows that this virus can be lethal, more lethal than many viruses we worry about,” Jennifer Nuzzo, a professor of epidemiology at Brown College, advised AFP.
“For that reason, people have been quite alarmed about these outbreaks that have been occurring on farms and other places in the US and have really been shouting for the US government to do more,” she mentioned.
Loss of life ‘not surprising’
The CDC mentioned in December that genetic sequencing of the H5N1 virus from the Louisiana affected person was totally different from the model detected in lots of dairy herds across the nation.
And a small a part of the virus within the affected person had genetic modifications that urged it may have mutated contained in the physique to adapt to the human respiratory tract.
Nevertheless, such mutations are usually not the one factor that would make the virus extra contagious or transmissible between people, in keeping with researchers interviewed by AFP.
H5N1 was first detected in 1996, however since 2020, the variety of outbreaks amongst fowl flocks has exploded, whereas a rising variety of mammal species have been affected.
“While tragic, a death from H5N1 bird flu in the United States is not unexpected because of the known potential for infection with these viruses to cause severe illness and death,” the CDC mentioned in an announcement.
The World Well being Group has recorded over 950 fowl flu instances in people since 2003 in 24 nations, together with a big quantity in China and Vietnam.
Nuzzo mentioned the announcement of the US dying didn’t change her perspective, however underscored her “big worry about the relatively unchecked spread of this virus and the urgency of doing more to prevent people from being infected.”
“This is a nasty virus that no one wants to get,” she mentioned.
© 2025 AFP
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US data its first human dying from fowl flu (2025, January 7)
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