CDC confirms first case of severe bird flu in US

USA he’s already seen dozens cases of human bird flu this yearall are easy – so far.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed on Wednesday that a patient in Louisiana was hospitalized with a severe case of bird flu caused by the H5N1 virus. This marks the first case of severe illness linked to the virus in the US.

The virus has decimated poultry flocks and wild birds across the country and infected more than 800 dairy herds in 16 states. Infected animals spread the virus to humans who come into contact with them. Since April in the US there is a common 61 human cases of bird flu reported in eight states. Of these, 37 were in contact with sick or infected dairy cows, while 21 were in contact with poultry farms and slaughter operations. In these cases, people developed conjunctivitis and mild respiratory symptoms and made a full recovery.

The severe case is significant because bird flu has previously been associated with severe illness in other countries, including outbreaks that have resulted in death in up to 50 percent of cases. Since 2003 until 2023 of the 878 people who tested positive for the virus, 458 deaths were reported.

An investigation by the Louisiana Department of Health and CDC found that the hospitalized patient, a southwest Louisiana resident, had been exposed to sick and dead birds in backyard flocks. This is the first case of H5N1 bird flu in the U.S. linked to backyard flock exposure. not a commercial farm.

“While the investigation into the source of this infection in Louisiana continues, the patient reported from Louisiana is believed to have been exposed to sick or dead birds on their property,” said Demetrius Daskalakis, director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and respiratory diseases, during a press briefing on Wednesday. There were no other details about the source of exposure or the patient’s condition.

A person with bird flu in Missouri was hospitalized in late August, but CDC officials say it was due to underlying medical conditions. The patient had no respiratory symptoms and was not severely ill from the infection. “In the case of Missouri, we don’t really have the same kind of data to support that it’s related to their flu infection,” Daskalakis said.

There are genetic similarities between the virus from a patient in Louisiana and the virus from a teenager in Canada who was hospitalized with H5N1. Scientists have categorized the Louisiana virus as type D1.1, the same type found in the Canadian patient and another case from Washington state. This variant has also been found in wild birds and poultry in the United States.

This is different from the B3.13 type, which has been found in dairy cows, some outbreaks in poultry, and in sporadic cases in humans in multiple countries. CDC scientists are performing additional genomic sequencing on the Louisiana patient’s virus sample. Genomic sequencing can identify potentially dangerous changes in the virus that would signal an increased ability to infect humans or be transmitted from person to person.

Human-to-human transmission of H5N1 avian influenza has not been detected. The CDC says the immediate risk to public health remains low, but those who are occupationally or recreationally exposed to infected animals are at higher risk of contracting the virus. “This means backyard flock owners, hunters and other bird enthusiasts should also take precautions,” the agency said in a statement.