State health officials said Friday that an individual in southwestern Louisiana is the first to be hospitalized with a severe case of bird flu, and also the first to be infected from exposure to sick birds in a residential setting.
So far, most of the confirmed cases in humans have been a result of exposure to infected animals in commercial settings, such as dairy or poultry farms. But this latest information raises alarms about the possibility of people getting infected by wild birds in their own backyard.
Federal health officials addressed this on a press call Wednesday morning with representatives from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
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The case in Louisiana was its first human infection in the state, but it is not the first human case of bird flu in the U.S. to require hospitalization.
A patient in Missouri was hospitalized with complications related to a bird flu infection earlier this year, according to information from state health officials and the CDC.
Meanwhile, in Louisiana, it is unclear if the individual with bird flu remains hospitalized or what their severe symptoms are. Federal health officials said they could not provide information on the person's age or prior health history for privacy reasons.
To date, there have been 61 confirmed human cases of bird flu in the U.S., but no human-to-human transmission. The CDC maintains that the public health risk is low.
Most of these cases have resulted in mild symptoms for patients in the U.S. and a full recovery. However, past cases of bird flu in humans in other countries have been severe, with some resulting in death, according to federal health officials.
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Labcorp announced Tuesday that a commercial molecular test that can detect H5 bird flu in humans is available for physicians to order nationwide.
