First serious case of bird flu in a person in the United States sets off alarms

The first serious case of H5N1 virus infection in a patient in The United States, announced this Wednesday, is of concern amid growing fear of a possible bird flu pandemic.

The case brings the total number of infections in the United States during the 2024 outbreak to 61, but the other patients experienced mild symptoms from which they recovered at home.

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The severity of the case in Louisiana, in the southeast of the country, has raised alarm bells. Last month, a teenager from Canada was also hospitalized with a severe case of bird flu.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Louisiana patient was exposed to sick and dead birds on a farm. Details of the case, confirmed on Friday, have not been revealed and its prognosis is unknown.

“Over the more than 20 years of global experience with this virus, H5 infection has previously been associated with serious illness in other countries, including illnesses that caused death in up to 50% of cases,” he told reporters Demetre Daskalakis, a CDC executive, in a phone call.

Genetic sequencing revealed that the H5N1 virus in the patient belonged to the D1.1 genotype, recently detected in wild and poultry birds in the United States.as well as in people in Washington state and the Canadian province of British Columbia.

The D1.1 genotype differs from B3.13, identified in dairy cows and which has triggered some outbreaks in poultry and people with mild symptoms such as conjunctivitis.

A handful of human cases in the United States do not come from contact with an animal, but health officials believe it is too early to suggest human-to-human transmission and that the risk to the general public is low.

However, scientists and public health experts fear that the detected cases represent only a fraction of the real ones.

Meg Schaeffer, an epidemiologist at the SAS Institute, based in the United States, recently told AFP that there are currently several factors that suggest that “bird flu is knocking on our door and could start a new pandemic any day.”

Among the cases registered in the United States is that of a young child in California, reported last month.

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Uncertainty about the disease

As a precautionary measure, authorities later examined other children and caregivers at the daycare where the minor attends.

The current outbreak in the United States, technically highly pathogenic avian influenza, or H5N1, was first detected in dairy cows in March.

The increasing frequency and diversity of mammalian infections in recent years has raised concerns about the adaptability of the virus. and its potential for transmission between species.

Added to these concerns is the possible role of raw milk as a transmission vector.

The US Department of Agriculture ordered that raw milk samples be shared and federal authorities be informed if they test positive for bird flu.

There are also concerns about how President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration will address the outbreak. The Republican magnate has nominated the anti-vaccine Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has no scientific training and is a defender of raw milk, for Secretary of Health.