The firstUS bird flu deathhas been reported as officials confirmed Mon a person in Louisana who had been hospitalized with severe respiratory symptoms died.
Health officials have said the person was older than 65, had underlying medical problems and had been in contact with sick and dead birds in a backyard flock.
They also said a genetic analysis of the patient's infection suggested the bird flu virus had mutated while inside their body, which could have caused a more severe illness.
Since Mar, 66 confirmed bird flu infections have been reported in the US, but previous illnesses have been mild and most have been detected among farmworkers exposed to sick poultry or dairy cows.
In two cases - an adult in Missouri and a child in California - health officials have not determined how they contract the virus.
Many experts put H5N1 at the top of their lists of pandemic threats, due to how widespread it is among animals and how rapidly it appears to be mutating.
The death in Louisiana marks the first human case in the US linked to exposure to backyard birds, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Louisiana officials say they are not aware of any other cases in the state, and US officials have said they do not have any evidence the virus is spreading from person to person.
The H5N1 bird flu has been spreading widely among wild birds, poultry, cows and other animals, however.
And its growing presence in the environment increases the chances people will be exposed, and potentially catch it, officials have said.
66 cases have now been detected in humans across ten states this year, the most cases reported in the US in at least two decades. Before the current outbreak, the last human case of bird flu was in 1997.
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