BATON ROUGE (Louisiana, US), Jan 7 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) announced that a patient previously hospitalized with a severe H5N1 avian flu infection has died.
The patient is older than age 65 and had underlying health conditions. Officials had said the person was exposed to the virus through contact with backyard poultry and wild birds.
So far, LDH investigators haven’t found any other related cases. The news comes as US officials note more avian flu in poultry and in both domestic and wild cats.
“The Department expresses its deepest condolences to the patient’s family and friends as they mourn the loss of their loved one,” the LDH said. “Due to patient confidentiality and respect for the family, this will be the final update about the patient.”
The United States has reported 66 human H5N1 cases since the start of 2024. Most have been mild infections from a genotype circulating in dairy herds.
A different genotype carried by wild birds migrating south, however, is posing another threat and has resulted in two severe infections, one of them involving the Louisiana patient and the other a British Columbia teen who is recovering after lengthy intensive care unit treatment.
In related news, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) today confirmed more H5N1 avian flu outbreaks in poultry in five states, which include commercial 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.
Other states reporting outbreaks at commercial facilities include hard-hit California, which reported new detections at a game bird farm in Butte County that has 44,700 birds, as well as a broiler operation and layer farm in Stanislaus County. In Michigan, the virus was found at two more turkey farms in Ottawa County.
The USDA also confirmed the virus in backyard flocks in Arkansas’s Sharp County and at four locations in Idaho’s Canyon County.
APHIS today also confirmed two more outbreaks in dairy cattle, both in California, raising the national total to 917 and the state’s total to 701.
Also, APHIS today added about 30 more H5N1 detections in mammals, mostly in cat species.
The virus was confirmed in 4 domestic cats in California, 3 in Los Angeles County and 1 in Fresno County. The virus also struck a house cat in Washington County, Oregon, and Morrison County, Minnesota. Over the past few weeks, California has reported a few cat deaths in animals exposed to raw pet food and raw milk.
Some of the newly reported detections involved wild cats, including a bobcat from Colorado’s Larimer County and a mountain lion near Carson City, Nevada. Several of the animals that tested positive appear to be exotic captive wild cats at a sanctuary in Washington’s Mason County. Also, there were five other exotic cats that tested positive near Denver, Colorado, as well as a few in California and Idaho.
Detections in other mammals include a fox near Denver and a raccoon in Washington’s King County. — NNN-AGENCIES
