Hospitalized in the State of Louisiana, the patient in question is in “critical condition” and “suffers from a serious respiratory illness”. The other infected people showed mild symptoms.
A first serious case of human contamination with the H5N1 virus has been detected in the United States, authorities announced on Wednesday, as fears of a possible bird flu pandemic increase.
The patient, hospitalized in the State of Louisiana, is the 61st human case of bird flu detected since April in the country, said the American Center for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) in a press release.
Aged over 65 and suffering from other pathologies, he is in “critical condition” and “suffers from a serious respiratory illness”, Louisiana health authorities told AFP.
The other infected people showed mild symptoms.
The United States has been facing an epizootic (the equivalent of an epidemic among animals) of bird flu for several months.
Several elements suggest that “bird flu is knocking on our door and could trigger a new pandemic”, Meg Schaeffer, an epidemiologist at the North American institute SAS, recently told AFP.
However, US health authorities assured on Wednesday that their assessment of the risk posed by bird flu to public health was not changing and remained “low”.
“No spread of bird flu has been detected [subtipo] H5 from person to person”, they said.
The recent detection of bird flu in people with no known contact with an infected animal reinforces concerns in this regard.
But that’s not the case with the Louisiana patient, who had contact with sick and dead birds on a farm, the CDC said.
At least three people have been infected in recent months with the H5N1 virus in the United States without knowing the source of their contamination: a child in California, an adult in Missouri and probably another individual in Delaware, the CDC reported on Wednesday.
