A Mexican man, 59, has died after being infected with a bird flu subtype never before confirmed to have spread to humans, the World Health Organisation said last week.
Although he had suffered from other underlying health conditions, he’d had no known exposure to poultry or other animals before being formally diagnosed by a laboratory with the H5N2 subtype of avian flu.
The Washington Post reports that the case marks the first time a human has been confirmed to be infected with this subtype, and the first time an avian H5 virus was confirmed in a person in Mexico.
“Due to the constantly evolving nature of influenza viruses, WHO continues to stress the importance of global surveillance,” WHO said. “This case does not change the current WHO recommendations on public health measures and surveillance of influenza,” it added, rating current risks to the general population as “low”.
The man had been bedridden for three weeks for other reasons, before the onset of acute symptoms, according to WHO. His symptoms first appeared around 17 April and included fever, shortness of breath, diarrhoea and general malaise.
He was admitted to the National Institute of Respiratory Diseases in Mexico City and died later that day.
Four human cases of avian flu have been reported in the United States since 1 April: three of the infections followed exposure to dairy cows in Texas and Michigan, while one was linked to exposure to poultry in Colorado.
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