The United States has announced the first death of a person infected with bird flu after a Louisiana man who was hospitalized last month succumbed to the illness.
The Louisiana Department of Health revealed this week that the person had died from the illness, but shared few other details due to health privacy rules.
The patient is known to have been over 65 and had underlying medical conditions, though his is the first death reported from the bird flu in the US, a news release shared.
The release also noted that the patient contracted the virus after he was exposed to “a combination of a non-commercial backyard flock and wild birds.”
Following what was called an “extensive public health investigation,” there were no other cases of H5N1 found in a person or evidence of human-to-human transmission.
So far this flu season, more than 65 people have caught bird flu, though cases have mostly popped up amongst those who work with infected dairy cattle or poultry.
Until this patient’s death, the cases have largely resulted in mild illnesses, a change from what’s been seen historically when other strains have been deadly in humans. In total, around 50% of all reported cases of bird flu have resulted in death, according to the World Health Organization.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has shared that despite the death and the virus mutating over the course of the Louisiana patient’s illness, the risk to the public is still considered low.
The CDC said in a statement that there are no “concerning virologic changes actively spreading in wild birds, poultry, or cows that would raise the risk to human health.”
Health officials are advising people to avoid contact with wild birds, poultry, and rodents and to wash their hands after touching feces or objects that may have been contaminated with their saliva or mucus. This includes things like bird feeders.
Pets are also at risk for catching the virus, though health officials say they would do so by consuming raw meat or raw milk.