First severe bird flu case recorded in the United States

Arab Weather - The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States announced on Wednesday that a patient was transferred to the hospital in the state of Louisiana after being infected with bird flu, which is the first severe case recorded in the United States.
The patient had handled infected and dead birds in his backyard, while the other 61 cases recorded in the United States have been mild.

Previous infections with other types of bird flu

On September 7, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that a person in Missouri had been infected with the H5 avian influenza virus, the first case of infection in a person who had not been exposed to a sick animal. The agency reported that this was the 14th case of H5 recorded in 2024.

Case investigations and virus spread risks

The CDC said the Missouri case is under investigation by the Department of Health, noting that the patient was hospitalized on Aug. 22 and tested positive for influenza A, a virus that affects birds and some mammals. The patient was treated and recovered at home, the agency added.
The agency confirmed that its current assessment indicates that the risk of the virus spreading among the general public remains low.

Virus outbreak among poultry and increasing concern

There are no reported cases in cattle in Missouri, but there has been an outbreak in poultry. Experts are concerned that the number of mammals infected with the H5N1 strain is increasing and that the virus could spread between them, although human cases have been rare so far.

In a report issued last June, it was noted that the increase in bird flu cases among mammals is a warning that the world is not prepared to confront epidemics.
The report called for urgent action, noting that political leaders were neglecting to allocate resources to combat such threats.

Warnings of the possibility of the virus turning into a pandemic

Helen Clark, former Prime Minister of New Zealand and one of the report’s authors, said:

“If the virus starts spreading from person to person, the world may be overwhelmed.”

She added in a press conference that this scenario requires an urgent international response to avoid a recurrence of global health disasters, stressing the need to benefit from the lessons learned from the Covid-19 pandemic.

See also:

Al-Tarawneh: Warning of the spread of bird flu among humans

Why do headaches get worse in winter?

Sources:

Agencies - Washington