Louisiana reported the first bird flu death in the US

A Louisiana patient has become the first to die of bird flu in the US. According to AP News, state health officials announced the passing, and the CDC confirmed it was the first in the country.

The patient had been in the hospital with severe respiratory symptoms for days, the news agency said.

Health authorities also said the patient was over 65 years old and had underlying health issues. They contracted the virus while interacting with sick and dead birds in a backyard flock.

According to AP News, authorities also said that a genetic analysis suggested the virus had mutated in the patient, possibly becoming more deadly.

Luckily, Louisiana health officials said their investigation found no other human cases linked to this patient’s infection, CNN reported.

Still, the US has reported several flu cases in humans since March. According to the AP, most of the 66 infections recorded have been mild and among workers in close contact with animals.

The Louisiana patient was the first recorded individual to catch the virus from a backyard flock. However, health officials are unsure of the source of two recent cases in Missouri and California.

The virus has spread widely among farm animals in the US, jumping from poultry to cattle and severely affecting the industry. It was bound to jump to humans working with the animals.

“This is probably the nastiest form of the virus we’ve seen,” Dr. Richard Webby, who directs a WHO collaborating center at St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital, told CNN.

According to the WHO, health authorities have reported 960 cases of bird flu in humans since 2003. Roughly half of those patients have died, giving the virus a high mortality rate.

However, authorities have clarified that most mild cases have likely gone unreported, which is why the virus seems to have such high mortality rates.

Still, “just because we have seen mild cases does not mean future cases will continue to be mild,” Jennifer Nuzzo, director of the Pandemic Center at Brown University, told AP News.

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