THURSDAY, June 6, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- A 59-year-old person in Mexico is the first human in the world known to be infected with the H5N2 strain of avian flu, and the patient died of complications linked to the illness, the World Health Organization reported Wednesday. H5N1 and H5N2 strains of avian flu have long circulated among birds, and H5N1 has infected about 900 humans worldwide who've had extended close contact with infected birds or animals. But this is the first human case of H5N2 known to infect a person.
The WHO said that, at this point, just how the person contracted the virus is unknown, although H5N2 is known to circulate in poultry in Mexico. The person was already in a weakened state, bedridden for three weeks with other underlying medical conditions before developing symptoms of bird flu in mid-April. Those symptoms included fever, shortness of breath, diarrhea, nausea and weakness.
On April 24, the person was hospitalized at the National Institute of Respiratory Diseases in Mexico City, but died of complications that day, the WHO said. Doctors sent a sample obtained from the patient which was confirmed to be positive for H5N2 by two separate labs. The virus does not seem to be easily transmitted: Of 17 people who'd had contact with the patient in the hospital, none have become infected.
Twelve more people living near the patient's home were also tested, seven of who had symptoms, but none tested positive for COVID-19 or any kind of flu. Ongoing blood test.
