United States: A person in Louisiana is the first known case of bird flu so severe that they needed to be hospitalized, according to the CDC. Since April, 60 other people in the U.S. have had the H5N1 bird flu, but their symptoms were mild and got better after treatment.
However, the Louisiana case – the first case of H5N1-related sickness recorded in the state “is the first time that severe disease has been associated with the virus in the United States” the CDC pointed out.
As reported by the HealthDay, other people are still at a very low risk of being infected, said the agency and human to human transmission has largely been ruled out in this regard.
However, until the source of the acute infection in Louisiana is clearly established, it was established that the patient had a contact with ill and deceased birds in backyard coops, the CDC mentioned.
All of the other bird-to-human cases have been reported in workers in large, concentrated poultry farming; “this is the first documented H5N1 bird flu in the U.S associated with exposure to a back yard poultry farm,” the CDC pointed out.
The agency also pointed out that now a severe H5N1 avian flu in an American was not unusual.
’During 2024 and previous years, avian influenza A(H5N1) virus infection was reported to cause severe human illness in other countries including fatal illness,’ CDC said.
That said, the case does drive home a very important point: no one who has high-risk contact with birds should be cavalier, either. ” This means that backyard flock owners, hunters and other bird enthusiasts should also take these precautions,” the agency said.
Regarding this, the state health department announced in a health alert released on Dec. 13 that the case is of a person from the south-western Louisiana.
” He was in contact with sick and dead birds which are believed to have been affected by the disease, H5N1 the bird flu.”
The United States has witnessed at least 61 human bird flu cases this year. Most of the reported cases have been recorded in California and Washington and the illness has mostly developed in workers with history of exposure to infected poultry or dairy cows.
For now, there are like no evidences that the bird flu is spreading from the person to person and the most cases have largely been not so serious and with that the main symptoms being conjunctivitis or the pinkeye but so far there have been no deaths reported.
