CDC confirms first ‘severe’ case of H5N1 bird flu in US

The CDC has declared the first “severe” case of H5N1 bird flu in the United States, according to a news release issued Wednesday. The good news? The person who contracted the virus appears to have contracted it from poultry, meaning they did not acquire it through human-to-human transmission, which has long been feared as something that could fuel mutations and a new pandemic in humans. The bad news? Human cases of bird flu continue to rise as the guy who horribly mismanaged the last pandemic in the United States is about to take power again.

The severe case announced by the CDC on Wednesday was first confirmed on Dec. 13 after test results were returned from a patient in Louisiana, the agency said in a statement. Press release. The virus in this case was identified as genotype D1.1, which is related to other D1.1 cases that have been found in humans from Washington state and British Columbia, Canada. That genotype is different from the B3.13 genotype detected in dairy cows throughout the United States, which has been the dominant method of human infection. The state of California, which has the highest number of known infections in dairy herds in the country (645), declared a state of emergency on Wednesday.

Cases of D1.1 in humans come from birds, although the new case in Louisiana is the first acquired in a backyard flock. Most human cases come from agricultural workers exposed to commercial poultry. There was also a case in Missouri and a case in California where the route of infection had not been determined since there was no known exposure to farm animals. Recent wastewater detection The spread of bird flu in many states such as Florida, Maine and New Jersey has also been disconcerting, as there are no known cases of infected birds or livestock in those states.

The CDC announcement Wednesday did not include any biographical information about the case in Louisiana and Washington Post reports that CDC officials declined to provide even basic information about the timeline of how this person may have been infected or their symptoms. The only information shared about it is that they have symptoms compatible with the flu.

The CDC released a bird flu tracker which breaks down confirmed human cases, as well as the US states where they were identified and the animal believed to be the source of the infection. There are a total of 61 confirmed cases in eight states, although suspected cases are not included. Delaware, for example, currently has a suspicious case That has not yet been confirmed by testing. If the CDC confirms that case, Delaware will become the ninth state to see human cases of bird flu during this outbreak. Notably, Delaware has also recently seen detection of the virus in wastewater.

There have been no known human cases of bird flu acquired in the United States through consumption of milk or beef, but that possibility has been a cause for concern recently. Pasteurization kills bird flu in milk, but a recent study showed that the virus can survive five days in raw milk. Incoming President Donald Trump named Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a strong advocate of raw milk, as head of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Cats that had been seen drinking raw milk recently in California died and Los Angeles health officials believe they were infected with bird flu.

Even with this new severe case of bird flu in Louisiana, the CDC remains steadfast in its belief that the threat to the general U.S. population remains low.

“A sporadic case of severe H5N1 bird flu in a person is not unexpected; “Infection with avian influenza A (H5N1) virus has previously been associated with serious human illness in other countries during 2024 and earlier years, including illness resulting in death,” the CDC said in a statement.

“No human-to-human transmission of H5 avian flu has been detected,” the statement continued. “This case does not change CDC’s overall assessment of the immediate public health risk of H5N1 avian influenza, which remains low.”