Bird flu spreads: First human death from new strain reported in Mexico

First human death from bird flu strain reported in Mexico

The 59-year-old patient had underlying conditions
The patient previously had shortness of breath, nausea
The H5N2 strain is different than the one linked to U.S. cattle

Updated: Jun 6, 2024 / 12:34 PM CDT

FILE – The logo of the World Health Organization is seen at the WHO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, June 11, 2019. A global treaty to fight pandemics like COVID is going to have to wait: After more than two years of negotiations, rich and poor countries have failed to come up with a plan for how the world might respond to the next pandemic. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus, File)

(NewsNation) — A 59-year-old resident of Mexico has been confirmed as the first human victim to die from bird flu, the World Health Organization reported Wednesday.

The death comes after Mexican health officials previously confirmed a case of the H5N2 bird flu strain in the patient, who had been hospitalized in Mexico City. The case is the first among humans involving this strain of the illness, which is different from those bird flu cases being linked to cattle in the United States.

The person, who has not been publicly identified, had multiple underlying medical conditions. The victim’s relatives said that the person had been bedridden for other reasons before acute symptoms linked to the bird flu set in, health officials reported.

Just one week before the patient’s death April 24, the person was experiencing shortness of breath, diarrhea, nausea, and general malaise. The person had no history of exposure to poultry or other animals, the World Health Organization said.

Health officials have not identified the source of exposure in this case. They reported that other cases involving the H5N2 strain have been found in poultry in Mexico.

This year in the United States, three nonfatal cases of the H5N1 bird flu have been confirmed.

More than 68 herds of cattle across the country have confirmed cases of the bird flu, the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention reported.

Flu viruses that cause human disease circulate at very low levels during the summer months, so the presence of high levels of influenza A in wastewater during this time could be a “reliable indicator that something unusual is going on in a particular area,” news outlet STAT reported.

As of May 24, data from 689 of the agency’s wastewater sampling sites showed that an influenza A virus had been detected at higher-than-average levels in more than 280 sites, including some in Illinois and Alaska.