A patient in a Louisiana hospital has become the first H5N1-related human fatality in the latest US bird flu outbreak, authorities said on Monday.
The person was reported by the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention in mid-December as the “first instance of severe illness linked” to avian flu in the US.
The Louisiana Department of Health said the patient was over 65 years old and had underlying medical conditions. It is not clear if those characteristics contributed to their hospital admission for severe illness.
“The patient contracted H5N1 after exposure to a combination of a non-commercial backyard flock and wild birds,” the department said in a statement.
The state health agency conducted an investigation and “identified no additional H5N1 cases nor evidence of person-to-person transmission”.
Concerns are rising among public health experts because of the bird flu's potential for a deadly pandemic. The disease has spread over the last two years in wild birds, poultry, cows and other animals, including pets.
There have been at least 66 reported human cases of H5 bird flu in the US, all recorded in 2024, but experts say that could be an undercount.
Most of the infections have been mild, making the deadly Louisiana case unique in the US. Most recent cases were due to exposure with sick poultry or cows, but in two cases in Missouri and California, health officials do not know how they got the bird flu.
The World Health Organisation has recorded more than 460 deaths of bird flu since 2003, but the Louisiana person was the first in the US.
The CDC has consistently said there is no human-to-human transmission of the virus, and that the chances of that kind of spread are low. However, California in December declared a state of emergency to defend against those chances.
President Joe Biden's administration last week said it would commit $306 million for hospital readiness and work on tools and vaccines to address the virus. A little over $100 million of those funds will help local departments track and test people who have close exposure to infected herds.
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Draw:
Group A: Egypt, DR Congo, Uganda, Zimbabwe
Group B: Nigeria, Guinea, Madagascar, Burundi
Group C: Senegal, Algeria, Kenya, Tanzania
Group D: Morocco, Ivory Coast, South Africa, Namibia
Group E: Tunisia, Mali, Mauritania, Angola
Group F: Cameroon, Ghana, Benin, Guinea-Bissau
Global Fungi Facts
• Scientists estimate there could be as many as 3 million fungal species globally
• Only about 160,000 have been officially described leaving around 90% undiscovered
• Fungi account for roughly 90% of Earth's unknown biodiversity
• Forest fungi help tackle climate change, absorbing up to 36% of global fossil fuel emissions annually and storing around 5 billion tonnes of carbon in the planet's topsoil
Ziina users can donate to relief efforts in Beirut
Ziina users will be able to use the app to help relief efforts in Beirut, which has been left reeling after an August blast caused an estimated $15 billion in damage and left thousands homeless. Ziina has partnered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to raise money for the Lebanese capital, co-founder Faisal Toukan says. “As of October 1, the UNHCR has the first certified badge on Ziina and is automatically part of user's top friends' list during this campaign. Users can now donate any amount to the Beirut relief with two clicks. The money raised will go towards rebuilding houses for the families that were impacted by the explosion.”
The burning issue
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on
Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins
Read part one: how cars came to the UAE
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