The deceased patient was admitted to hospital in December due to severe respiratory symptoms after exposure to infected birds.

The first death from avian influenza in the United States was reported in a 65-year-old patient. Hospitalized Died on December 18th.

The Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) made the announcement on Monday. The patient is the first person in the United States to be hospitalized with the H5N1 virus.

“LDH’s extensive public health investigation found no additional cases of H5N1 and no evidence of human-to-human transmission. The patient remains the only human case of H5N1 in Louisiana,” the state agency said in a social media post. “The overall public health risk remains low at this time.”

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has confirmed 66 human cases There have been a total of such cases in the United States since April, but none as severe as the one in Louisiana.

Authorities believe the patient was pre-existing and contracted bird flu from exposure to backyard chickens and wild birds.

Although the risk to humans remains small to date, millions of birds To stop the spread of the virus, cattle were also slaughtered.

The CDC says most people infected with bird flu in recent months have been exposed through contact with contaminated livestock and cattle.

An estimated 40 of the 66 cases are linked to dairy herds, with a further 23 traced to farms and slaughterhouses.

“While the public health risk to the general public remains low at this time, the risk to people who work with or engage in recreational activities with birds, poultry or dairy cows is higher,” LDH said in a statement.

california announced state of emergency In mid-December, cows in western states tested positive for the virus, triggering an avian flu outbreak. As of Monday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report There have been 917 confirmed cases among dairy cows in California, 701 of which have been confirmed.

Many human cases of avian influenza in the United States are also concentrated in California, a state with developed agriculture. However, there is no record of human-to-human transmission. All but one of the state’s cases have been linked to cattle.

The CDC announced in late December that genetic analysis of Louisiana patients showed that the virus had mutated in the patients, which may allow the virus to better bind to receptors in the human upper respiratory tract.

Michael Osterholm, an infectious disease researcher at the University of Minnesota, told The Associated Press that the developments are concerning but not scary.

“Does this indicate that we may be closer to finding a virus that spreads easily from person to person? No,” Osterholm said. “Now, it’s a key that’s in the lock, but it doesn’t open the door.”

The World Health Organization (WHO) said in its public health assessment in December that the global impact of the infection remained “mild”.