First Bird Flu Death in U.S. Reported in Louisiana
This article is in follow up to the Dec. 30 article, Genetic Sequences of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza A(H5N1) Viruses Identified in a Person in Louisiana
The New York Times reported that a Louisiana patient who had been hospitalized with severe bird flu has died, the first such fatality in the United States, state health officials.
The patient was older than 65 and had underlying medical conditions, the officials said. The individual became infected with the bird flu virus, H5N1, after exposure to a backyard flock and wild birds.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said late last month that the mutations were not present in virus samples taken from the backyard flock, suggesting that they developed in the patient as the illness progressed.
One of the mutations was also present in virus sampled from a 13-year-old Canadian girl who was hospitalized and required respiratory support. She has since recovered.
Both patients carried a version of the virus that is circulating in wild birds, distinct from the one causing the outbreak in dairy cattle.
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