The U.S. has recorded its first loss of life of an individual contaminated with hen flu.

The affected person was a resident of southwest Louisiana who was hospitalized final month with the primary recognized extreme case of hen flu within the nation.

On Monday, the Louisiana Division of Well being stated the individual had died from the sickness however shared few different particulars due to affected person privateness guidelines.

The affected person was over 65 and had underlying medical circumstances.

The affected person contracted the sickness after being uncovered to “a mix of a non-commercial yard flock and wild birds,” in accordance to a information launch. An “intensive public well being investigation” didn’t flip up another circumstances of H5N1 in an individual or proof of human-to-human unfold.

Greater than 65 folks have caught hen flu in the course of the present outbreak, primarily from shut contact whereas working with contaminated dairy cattle or poultry.

Whereas these circumstances have largely led to gentle sickness, traditionally different strains of hen flu have proved fairly lethal in people. Of the greater than 950 circumstances reported to the World Well being Group, about 50% have resulted in loss of life.

“We’ve 20-plus years of knowledge exhibiting that it is a fairly nasty virus,” stated Jennifer Nuzzo, director of the Pandemic Middle on the Brown College Faculty of Public Well being. “I’m not relying on future infections all being gentle.”

In November, a 13-year-old lady in British Columbia, Canada, was hospitalized with hen flu. How she caught the virus is not clear. However her sickness was so critical she required extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) to maintain her alive.

That case underscores that it is “very tough to foretell who will change into severely unwell after an an infection,” stated Nuzzo. “We must always not low cost this newest loss of life in Louisiana as a result of the affected person had underlying well being circumstances.”

Genetic sequencing from the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention signifies the H5N1 virus accountable for each of those extreme diseases belongs to the D1.1 genotype. Whereas it is a completely different genetic lineage from the virus infecting dairy cattle, it is nonetheless a part of the identical pressure circulating globally in wild birds and U.S. dairy herds — technically referred to as clade 2.3.4.4b.

The virus seems to have picked up some worrisome mutations in the course of the course of the Louisiana affected person’s sickness.

The identical might have occurred in Canada. In each circumstances, there is not any indication others had been contaminated, although.

In a press release on the Louisiana loss of life, the CDC reiterated that the danger to most people continues to be thought-about low, saying there aren’t any “regarding virologic adjustments actively spreading in wild birds, poultry, or cows that will increase the danger to human well being.”

The outbreak in dairy cattle lately led California to declare a state of emergency and stored public well being officers on edge due to the elevated potential for the virus to spill over into people.

Their recommendation is to keep away from contact with wild birds, poultry and rodents and to clean your palms after touching feces or objects that could possibly be contaminated with saliva or mucus, equivalent to hen feeders.

Pets also can catch the virus, significantly by consuming uncooked meat or uncooked milk, which may additionally harbor excessive a great deal of the virus.

Edited by Jane Greenhalgh