Color electron microscopic transmission of H5N1 virus particles
Scientific photography library
An individual in Louisiana has died from the bird flu virus often called H5N1. This is the first known death related to the virus in the US. The Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) has not identified additional cases of the H5N1 virus in the state or found evidence of person-to-person transmission of the virus, indicating that the risk to the general public stays low.
This person was hospitalized with the virus in December after contracting the virus from infected or dead birds in his yard. They experienced severe respiratory symptoms. This was the first serious case of the H5N1 virus in the US. LDH announced her death on January 6 and stated that they were over 65 years old and had comorbidities.
According to WHO data, a complete of 66 people in the US tested positive for the H5N1 virus US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Most of them experienced mild symptoms reminiscent of red eyes and worked with infected cows or chickens.
The H5N1 virus, which has killed tens of thousands and thousands of untamed and domestic birds worldwide, has been circulating amongst dairy cows across the United States for nearly a 12 months. Genetic evaluation samples taken from this person in Louisiana indicates that he was infected with a D1.1 virus, which is analogous to viruses recently detected in wild birds but different from the version spreading in cattle. There is not any evidence that the virus can spread between people.
The evaluation also identified several changes which will improve the virus’s ability to bind to cells in the upper respiratory tract in humans, which largely lack the receptors for many bird flu viruses. According to the CDC, these changes likely occurred after an individual was infected – each time someone contracts the bird flu virus, it gives it a likelihood to evolve and spread higher amongst us. One of the changes was also observed in a one that became seriously in poor health with H5N1 in November in Canada.
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