US reports first human death due to H5N1 bird flu, deceased a 65 YO man

The United States has reported the first human death from H5N1 bird flu after a 65-year-old man in Louisiana, who had been hospitalised with the virus since December 18, passed away on Monday.

Confirming the US' first death due to H5N1 bird flu on Monday, Louisiana health officials said that the patient was admitted to after exposure to a combination of a non-commercial backyard flock and wild birds, but had detected no further H5N1 infections nor evidence of person-to-person transmission in the state..

They also noted that the patient had underlying medical conditions and he was put at higher risk of serious disease.

The health officials further assured that the general risks to the public remained "low."

"While the current public health risk for the general public remains low, people who work with birds, poultry or cows, or have recreational exposure to them, are at higher risk," the Louisiana Department of Health said in a statement announcing the death.

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The news of first human death due to bird flu in the US comes barely days after the federal government awarded an additional $306 million to bolster H5N1 surveillance programs and research, amid some criticism for President Joe Biden's administration over its response to the simmering issue.

US bird flu cases in humans

As per the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), since the beginning of 2024, as many as 66 cases of bird flu have been recorded in humans in America.

In December, the CDC said that genetic sequencing of the H5N1 virus from the Louisiana patient was different from the version detected in many dairy herds around the country.

It further said that a small part of the virus in the patient had genetic modifications that suggested it could have mutated inside the body to adapt to the human respiratory tract.

However, such mutations are not the only thing that could make the virus more contagious or transmissible between humans, a report by AFP quoted saying researchers.

"While tragic, a death from H5N1 bird flu in the United States is not unexpected because of the known potential for infection with these viruses to cause severe illness and death," the CDC said in a statement.

H5N1 bird flu virus can be more lethal

"We have a lot of data that shows that this virus can be lethal, more lethal than many viruses we worry about," AFP quoted Jennifer Nuzzo, a professor of epidemiology at Brown University, as saying.

"For that reason, people have been quite alarmed about these outbreaks that have been occurring on farms and other places in the US and have really been shouting for the US government to do more," she further said.

H5N1 was first detected in 1996, but since 2020, the number of outbreaks among bird flocks has exploded, while a growing number of mammal species have been affected.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has recorded over 950 bird flu cases in humans since 2003 in 24 countries, including a large number in China and Vietnam.

With inputs from AFP.