The World Health Organization announced the first reported death from the new strain of influenza in the world. The patient had been hospitalized in Mexico City with H5N2 avian influenza, the WHO said in a statement.
The WHO said it received a report of the human case on May 23. The person with the disease was a 59-year-old man in Mexico who had no history of contact with poultry or other animals and had several other underlying health conditions.
He had been bedridden for three weeks before he developed acute symptoms of avian flu, beginning with “fever, shortness of breath, diarrhea, nausea and general fatigue” on April 17. He died from complications of the disease on April 24.
The WHO said it had conducted epidemiological investigations into 17 people who had close contact with the deceased, only one of whom reported having a runny nose.
This comes shortly after Australia’s first recorded case of a virulent strain of avian flu was reported in a child who fell ill after returning from overseas. The child was infected with the H5N1 strain of avian flu, which has spread around the world and caused mass bird deaths, after returning to the Australian state of Victoria. The child reportedly had a “severe infection” after returning from India in March but has since made a full recovery, Victorian health officials confirmed on Wednesday.
“This is the first known human case of H5N1 avian influenza in Australia,” Dr Claire Looker said. “The avian influenza virus was detected during further testing of positive influenza samples, which is carried out as part of Victoria’s enhanced surveillance system to detect novel or concerning influenza virus strains.”
“Contact tracing has not identified any additional cases of avian influenza linked to this case,” she added. Because avian influenza does not spread easily between humans, it is unlikely that additional cases will occur among humans, Dr. Looker said.
The same day, agriculture officials said a different strain of bird flu had been detected on an egg farm in another part of Victoria. Authorities were on alert after a number of poultry died on a farm near Meredith, about 40 kilometres northwest of Geelong. The Victorian agriculture department ordered emergency testing after detecting bird flu at the site.
Chief Veterinary Officer Graeme Cook said the outbreak was probably caused by the H7N7 strain and not the highly pathogenic H5N1 variant. “We have a virus that is causing great concern in the United States and other parts of the world and it has been acting in an unusual way by infecting dairy cows and other marine mammals,” Dr Cook told ABC’s Country Hour.
“This is not a strain we’re dealing with. This is a strain that has occurred in Australia before. It’s probably not a new strain.” H7N7 is the most common type of bird flu in Australia and the H7 strain was one of the last outbreak strains of bird flu to occur in the country in 2020, affecting a third of Victoria’s chicken farms.