The Louisiana Division of Well being (LDH) right now introduced {that a} affected person beforehand hospitalized with a extreme H5N1 avian flu an infection has died.
The affected person is older than age 65 and had underlying well being circumstances. Officers had mentioned the particular person was uncovered to the virus via contact with yard poultry and wild birds.
Thus far, LDH investigators have not discovered another associated instances. The information comes as US officers be aware extra avian flu in poultry and in each home and wild cats.
Completely different genotype causes concern
“The Division expresses its deepest condolences to the affected person’s household and buddies as they mourn the lack of their liked one,” the LDH mentioned. “As a consequence of affected person confidentiality and respect for the household, this would be the ultimate replace concerning the affected person.”
America has reported 66 human H5N1 instances because the begin of 2024. Most have been gentle infections from a genotype circulating in dairy herds.
A special genotype carried by wild birds migrating south, nonetheless, is posing one other menace and has resulted in two extreme infections, considered one of them involving the Louisiana affected person and the opposite a British Columbia teen who’s recovering after prolonged intensive care unit therapy.
Extra poultry outbreaks in 5 states
In associated information, the US Division of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Well being Inspection Service (APHIS) right now confirmed extra H5N1 avian flu outbreaks in poultry in 5 states, which embrace industrial farms in three of them.
In Delaware, an outbreak was confirmed at a broiler farm in Kent County that has 125,000 birds, marking the state’s first detections in poultry since September 2022.
Different states reporting outbreaks at industrial services embrace hard-hit California, which reported new detections at a sport chook farm in Butte County that has 44,700 birds, in addition to a broiler operation and layer farm in Stanislaus County. In Michigan, the virus was discovered at two extra turkey farms in Ottawa County.
The USDA additionally confirmed the virus in yard flocks in Arkansas’s Sharp County and at 4 places in Idaho’s Canyon County.
APHIS right now additionally confirmed two extra outbreaks in dairy cattle, each in California, elevating the nationwide whole to 917 and the state’s whole to 701.
Home cats, wild cats make up most new mammal detections
Additionally, APHIS right now added about 30 extra H5N1 detections in mammals, principally in cat species.
The virus was confirmed in 4 home cats in California, 3 in Los Angeles County and 1 in Fresno County. The virus additionally struck a home cat in Washington County, Oregon, and Morrison County, Minnesota. Over the previous few weeks, California has reported a number of cat deaths in animals uncovered to uncooked pet meals and uncooked milk.
Among the newly reported detections concerned wild cats, together with a bobcat from Colorado’s Larimer County and a mountain lion close to Carson Metropolis, Nevada. A number of of the animals that examined optimistic seem like unique captive wild cats at a sanctuary in Washington’s Mason County. Additionally, there have been 5 different unique cats that examined optimistic close to Denver, Colorado, in addition to a number of in California and Idaho.
Detections in different mammals embrace a fox close to Denver and a raccoon in Washington’s King County.
