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A patient in Louisiana who contracted a severe case of the bird flu virus H5N1 has died from the infection. This makes them the first known bird flu death in the United States.
First reported in December, the patient in Louisiana was believed to have been infected after exposure to sick or dead birds on their property. According to Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, it was the first bird flu case in the United States ever linked to backyard, non-commercial poultry.
“The Louisiana Department of Health reports the patient who had been hospitalized with the first human case of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), or H5N1, in Louisiana and the U.S. has died,” the Louisiana Department of Health said in a statement. “The patient was over the age of 65 and was reported to have underlying medical conditions. The patient contracted H5N1 after exposure to a combination of a non-commercial backyard flock and wild birds.
“LDH’s extensive public health investigation has identified no additional H5N1 cases nor evidence of person-to-person transmission. This patient remains the only human case of H5N1 in Louisiana.
“The Department expresses its deepest condolences to the patient’s family and friends as they mourn the loss of their loved one. Due to patient confidentiality and respect for the family, this will be the final update about the patient.”
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there have been at least 66 human cases of bird flu reported during this outbreak. 37 are located in California, 11 in Washington, 10 in Colorado, two in Michigan, and one each in Iowa, Louisiana, Missouri, Oregon, Texas, and Wisconsin.
It was reported in late December that 20 big cats at a sanctuary in Washington state had died from bird flu.
Last June, Robert Redfield, former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), warned that a bird flu pandemic is coming. He said it was only “a question of when.”
A study published to the preprint server medRxiv in May warned, “Felines prey on wild birds and may serve as a host for avian influenza virus adaptation to mammals. Feline-to-feline transmission has been demonstrated experimentally, and real-world outbreaks have been reported.
“Domestic cats are a popular human companion animal and thus provide a potential pathway for zoonotic spillover of avian influenza [bird flu] viruses to humans.”