The Louisiana Department of Health has confirmed that a patient hospitalized with the first U.S. case of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), or H5N1, has died.
The patient, over 65 years old and with underlying medical conditions, contracted the virus through exposure to a backyard poultry flock and wild birds.
No additional H5N1 cases or evidence of person-to-person transmission have been identified, and this remains Louisiana’s sole human case of the virus.
A youth in British Columbia became seriously ill with HPAI, but after weeks in hospital is beginning to recover.
