A Louisiana man has become the first person in the United States to die of avian influenza, state health officials reported Monday.
The patient, who was older than 65 and had underlying medical conditions, was hospitalized weeks ago in critical condition with severe respiratory illness related to the H5N1 bird flu virus.
The patient, whom people familiar with the investigation have identified as a man, had been in contact with sick and dead birds in backyard flocks on his property, state health officials said in a statement.
The Louisiana patient’s death does not change the overall assessment by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the immediate risk to the public’s health from H5N1 bird flu, which remains low.
The CDC has expanded its recommendations for testing and treatment of bird flu during the past few months for anyone with high-risk exposure, primarily farm workers.
The Louisiana Department of Health did not provide details about when the patient died or what treatment he received. State health officials said they have identified no additional H5N1 cases in residents, nor evidence of person-to-person transmission.
“The Department expresses its deepest condolences to the patient’s family and friends as they mourn the loss of their loved one. Due to patient confidentiality and respect for the family, this will be the final update about the patient,” the statement said.
Since April, at least 66 cases of bird flu have been reported in the United States, but almost all the patients had mild illnesses — pink eye or respiratory symptoms — and, until the recent death, all had recovered. Most of those who fell ill are dairy or poultry farm workers.
The virus that sickened the Louisiana patient is related to a version of bird flu recently found in wild birds and poultry in the United States and in people in British Columbia, Canada and Washington state, according to the CDC.
It is different from the version of the virus associated with a widespread outbreak in dairy cows, some poultry outbreaks and a few other human cases in the United States.
A British Columbia teen was hospitalized in November in critical condition, unable to breathe on her own, with an infection caused by viruses from the same genotype that infected the Louisiana patient.
The 13-year-old remains in the hospital but is no longer in the intensive care unit, according to David Goldfarb, one of the doctors caring for her at British Columbia Children’s Hospital in Vancouver.
