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Thursday, 13 February, 2025
HomeInfectious DiseasesFirst bird flu death reported in the US

First bird flu death reported in the US

A Louisiana man who had the first severe human case of bird flu in the US has died, local health officials reported this week as concerns of an avian flu pandemic continue to increase.

The patient, who contracted the illness after “exposure to a combination of a non-commercial backyard flock and wild birds”, was over 65 and had underlying medical conditions, reports Forbes.

The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had reported the infection in mid-December, but there have been no more cases since then, and officials said there’s been no evidence of human-to-human transmission tied to the patient.

Previously, genetic analysis of the virus from the patient suggested it mutated inside him, according to the CDC.

Scientists believe the mutations may allow the virus to better bind to receptors in the upper airways of humans, something they say is concerning but not a cause for alarm.

MedPage Today reported that analysis of the patient’s virus revealed that it belonged to the D1.1 genotype, which has been detected primarily in wild birds, but also in some poultry flocks in the country.

The D1.1 genotype was involved in the severe case of H5N1 bird flu seen in a teenager in British Columbia, Canada, in November. The source of that patient’s infection also remains unknown.

Michael Osterholm, a University of Minnesota infectious disease researcher, likened this binding interaction to a lock and key, reports PBS News. To enter a cell, the virus needs to have a key that turns the lock, and this finding means the virus may be changing to have a key that might work.

“Is this an indication that we may be closer to seeing a readily transmitted virus between people? No,” he said. “Right now, this is a key that sits in the lock, but it doesn’t open the door.”

The virus has been causing sporadic, mostly mild illnesses in people in the US, and nearly all of those infected worked on dairy or poultry farms.

The CDC said its findings about the mutations were “concerning” but the risk to the general public from the outbreak “has not changed and remains low”.

Still, Osterholm said, scientists should continue to keep an eye on what’s happening with mutations.

“There will be additional influenza pandemics and they could be much worse than we saw with Covid,” he said. “We know that the pandemic clock is ticking. We just don’t know what time it is.”

 

Forbes article – First bird flu death reported in US (Open access)

 

PBS News article – Bird flu virus likely mutated within Louisiana patient who became severely ill, CDC says (Open access)

 

Medpage Today article – U.S. Reports First Severe Case of Bird Flu (Open access)

 

See more from MedicalBrief archives:

 

Why most bird flu viruses don’t move to people – Scottish study

 

Teen critical in Canada’s first human bird flu case

 

Bird flu case raises first suggestion of human transmission

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