A person in Louisiana is the first to contract a severe case of bird flu in the United States, but his symptoms have not yet been revealed. He was in contact with sick birds.
A person in Louisiana is the first in the United States to suffer a serious illness caused by bird flu, health authorities reported Wednesday.
The patient had been in contact with sick or dead birds in backyards, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.
Agency officials have not released details of the symptoms the person in Louisiana has.
Previous cases of the disease in the United States have been mild and the vast majority have occurred among agricultural workers who have contact with sick birds or cows.
More than 60 infections have been reported this year, more than half in California. In two of them — an adult in Missouri and a minor in California — authorities have not been able to determine how they contracted the disease.
Health centers confirmed the Louisiana case on Friday, but did not announce it until Wednesday. It is also the first human case in the United States linked to backyard birds.
The patient in Missouri was also hospitalized, but for reasons beyond bird flu. The case in Louisiana is different because the hospitalization is due to bird flu, the health centers said.
Did the patient in Louisiana have previous conditions that made him or her more susceptible to the disease? Are you using a respirator? The health centers referred such questions to state health authorities, who have not responded.
Last month, Canadian authorities reported that a teenager in British Columbia was hospitalized with a severe case of bird flu. Health center officials did not respond to a question about whether the new U.S. case had differences or similarities, directing questions to Louisiana officials.
Officials say bird flu remains largely a problem among animals and that the risk among the general population is low. There have been no documented cases of person-to-person transmission.