CDC confirms first case of severe bird flu in the United States

US Dozens have now witnessed Human bird flu cases this yearall light – so far.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed Wednesday A patient in Louisiana was hospitalized with a severe case of avian influenza caused by the H5N1 virus. This marks the first case of serious illness linked to the virus in the United States.

The virus has decimated poultry and wild bird flocks across the country and infected more than 800 dairy herds in 16 states. Infected animals spread the virus to people who handle them. Since April, the United States has seen a total of 61 human cases of bird flu have been reported in eight states. Of these, 37 were exposed to sick or injured dairy cows, while 21 were exposed to poultry farms and culls. In those cases, people developed conjunctivitis and mild respiratory symptoms and made a full recovery.

A severe case is considered serious because bird flu has previously been associated with severe illness in other countries, including outbreaks that resulted in death in up to 50 percent of cases. From 2003 to 2023, out of 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, was exposed to sick and dead birds in backyard flocks. This is the first case of H5N1 avian influenza in the United States that has been linked to exposure to a backyard flock. Not a commercial farm.

“While the investigation into the source of this infection in Louisiana is ongoing, it is believed that the patient reported by Louisiana was exposed to sick or dead birds on his property,” said Dimitri Daskalakis, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Immunization. And respiratory diseases during a press conference on Wednesday. No other details were available 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 did not exhibit respiratory symptoms and was not suffering from severe illness as a result of his infection. “In the case of Missouri, we don’t really have the same type of data to support that it was related to influenza infection,” Daskalakis said.

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

This is different from type B3.13, which has been detected in dairy cows, some outbreaks in poultry, and in sporadic human cases in multiple states. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) scientists are conducting additional genomic sequencing of the Louisiana patient’s viral sample. Genetic sequencing can identify potentially worrisome changes in the virus that would indicate an increased ability to infect humans or transmit from person to person.

To date, no person-to-person transmission of the H5N1 bird flu virus has been detected. The CDC says the immediate risk to the public’s health remains low, but those who work or are recreationally exposed to infected animals are at greater risk of contracting the virus. “This means that home flock owners, hunters and other bird enthusiasts must also take precautions,” the agency said in a statement.