A person in Louisiana has been hospitalized with bird flu, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Bird influenza is the first serious human H5N1 infection in the country.
“The patient has severe respiratory illness associated with H5N1 infection and is currently hospitalized in critical condition,” said Emma Hurlock, spokeswoman for the Louisiana Department of Health.
The CDC said the patients were likely exposed to the virus from a backyard herd, marking the first time such a herd has been linked to an avian influenza infection in a U.S. resident.
“While the investigation into the source of this infection in Louisiana is ongoing, it is believed that the cases reported in Louisiana were exposed to sick or dead birds on their property,” said National Center Director. said Dr. Demetre Daskalakis. Vaccinations and respiratory diseases, at Wednesday’s information session.
The case was reported as a presumptive positive by the state of Louisiana on Friday and was later confirmed by CDC laboratory testing.
Daskalakis said the Ministry of Health is conducting an investigation and monitoring the patient’s contacts, administering tests and antiviral drugs if necessary.
The patient was over 65 years old and had underlying health conditions, Hurlock said. She did not address questions about the patient’s symptoms or the herd in her backyard.
There have been 61 human cases of avian influenza reported in the United States this year. Wisconsin officials announced Wednesday that they have detected a new probable case in a person who was exposed to infected birds at a commercial poultry farm. This matter is pending confirmation by the CDC.
So far, no human-to-human transmission of avian influenza has been recorded. Most human cases are mild and have been found among farm workers who were exposed to the virus through contact with infected poultry or cattle. Symptoms common in early cases included tearful eyes, coughing, and sneezing.
Dr. Peter Chin-hon, a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, who studies infectious diseases, said the Louisiana case highlights the risk of off-farm transmission.
“We have focused on dairy workers and poultry workers, but handling dead birds in backyards poses a new risk,” he said.
Daskalakis said the CDC is still working to better characterize the genome of the virus, which will help researchers understand whether there are any worrying mutations that could allow the virus to spread from person to person. Said to be helpful.
Early indicators in the Louisiana case suggest that the version of the virus causing the infection is similar to one circulating in wild birds and poultry in British Columbia, Canada and Washington state.
A British Columbia teenager was hospitalized in November after contracting the same genotype of the avian influenza virus. Canadian health officials were unable to determine the source of the teen’s infection.
“What this shows us is that people can get seriously ill from bird flu, and to me, that’s related to the cases in British Columbia,” Chin-Hong said. . “Both of these patients are linked by the same variant.”
The CDC said the development does not change its assessment of the immediate public health risk of the H5N1 virus, which remains “low.”
H5N1 began circulating widely in U.S. wild birds in 2022, and has since spread to chicken farms and backyard flocks. At least 123 million birds have been killed or euthanized by the virus since 2022, according to the CDC.
Bird flu began spreading among dairy cows this spring, and has since been detected in cows in at least 16 states.
Studies on dairy farms have shown that the virus can be transmitted efficiently between mammals. Scientists found that infected cows shed large amounts of the virus from their mammary glands, making it more likely to be transmitted between livestock through raw milk.
Although there is no evidence that the virus can spread between humans, scientists are concerned that it could mutate and develop its abilities to cause the next pandemic.
There have been two cases in the United States in which health officials were unable to determine the source of exposure to bird flu. One case was reported in November in a child in California. The other person was a hospitalized patient in Missouri who tested positive for H5N1 in August and has since recovered.
Daskalakis said the CDC considers the Louisiana case to be the first severe H5N1 infection because the Missouri patient’s hospitalization was likely caused by other illnesses. .
Additionally, Delaware health officials reported a case of H5N1 infection this week in a person with no known exposure to poultry or cattle. However, CDC test results do not confirm that the virus is H5N1, and the case is being listed as a “probable” case, Daskalakis said.
