The Louisiana Department of Health confirmed the first human death from H5N1 bird flu last Monday (6). The outbreak currently in the country has affected dozens of people and millions of birds and livestock.
The fatal victim was a . He was the first hospitalized, on Dec. 18, and contracted the virus from being exposed to a combination of backyard chickens and wild birds, state health officials said.
“While the current health risk to the general public remains low, people who work with poultry, poultry or cows, or who have recreational exposure to them, are at greater risk,” the department said in a statement.
Infectious disease specialist and pediatrician Renato Kfouri, president of the Immunization Department of the Brazilian Society of Pediatrics (SBP), agrees with the agency. “In this sense, it is essential to maintain vigilance, especially for people who deal with livestock and poultry […] so that the […] respiratory symptoms are promptly investigated, whether or not it is an avian virus that is contaminating humans”, the expert told CNN.
Transmission, to date, only occurs between animals and people
Kfouri reinforces that the transmission of the H5N1 virus between humans has not yet been reported, hence the greatest concern for those who have been relying on livestock and poultry. “The greatest risk is when a virus acquires, through mutations, the ability to transmit between people”, ponders the doctor. As this has not yet occurred, it is “impossible for it to spread on a large scale”, he explains.
This new ability to infect different types of animals — in this case, moving from birds to mammals — is called “species leap” by experts. The biggest problem with this is the fact that we are not used to being infected by this agent. “As it is a virus that does not normally affect humans, there is no preview and the disease tends to be more serious in people who have never been exposed to any type of agent”, considers the infectious disease specialist.
For now, the epicenter of the current outbreak is the United States, but cases have also been reported in Portugal. Check out the doctor’s full video:
