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A patient hospitalized in Louisiana is the first confirmed severe case of bird flu in the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) he said on Wednesday.
The case was confirmed on December 13.
According to agency officials, the patient was exposed to sick and dead birds in backyard flocks.
This is the first case of H5N1 bird flu in the US that has been linked to exposure to a backyard flock, the CDC said.
This virus is the same type linked to recent human cases in Canada and Washington state, but a different type detected in dairy cowsother poultry outbreaks and human cases, the CDC said.
Since April 2024, a total of 61 human cases of bird flu have been reported in the United States.
No person-to-person transmission of bird flu has been detected, but so far the rest of the cases have been mild with no hospitalizations.
The bird flu virus has previously been associated with serious human illness in other countries, so the CDC said it’s not unusual to see a sporadic serious case.
The immediate public health risk from H5N1 bird flu remains low, the CDC said.
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