American health authorities announced this Wednesday, December 18, the hospitalization of a patient in Louisiana due to infection with the avian flu virus, the first serious case in the United States.
2 mins
The patient was in contact with sick and dead birds in a farmyard, said the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) in a press release, adding that since April, 61 cases of bird flu in humans have been detected in the United States.
Genetic sequencing showed that the H5N1 virus which infected this patient from the state of Louisiana, in the south of the country, was of the same type as that which had earlier infected people in the American state of Washington and in neighboring Canada. This version of the virus is different from that detected in several herds of dairy cows and in poultry farms in UNITED STATES. No further details on the patient’s profile or state of health were given.
Other serious cases of avian flu in humans have previously been detected in other countries, recall the American authorities. This was the case of a teenager hospitalized in November in the Canadian province of British Columbia.
Also readAvian flu: how to protect yourself from it?
“ No person-to-person spread of avian influenza (subtype) H5 has been detected “, indicates the CDC, adding that this new case detected, although serious, ” do not modify » their evaluation « concerning the immediate risk linked to the H5N1 avian influenza virus for public health, which remains low “.
Avian influenza A (H5N1) first appeared in 1996, but since 2020 the number of outbreaks in birds has exploded and an increasing number of mammal species have been affected. A phenomenon that worries experts, even if cases in humans remain rare. They fear that high circulation could facilitate a mutation of the virus which would allow it to be transmitted from one human to another.
In September and November, two people tested positive for avian flu in the United States, with no known contact with an infected animal.