The World Health Organization announced Wednesday that Mexico has confirmed its first human case of a deadly subtype of bird flu.
According to a WHO press release, on May 23, Mexican health authorities reported the death to the World Health Organization, which was the first human death from the H5N2 avian influenza virus.
As of April 17, a 59-year-old Mexican resident developed fever, shortness of breath, nausea, diarrhea and malaise, officials said. The unnamed person was hospitalized in Mexico City on April 24 and died that day. Notably, family members told health officials that the person had underlying conditions and had been bedridden for three weeks with other illnesses before developing new symptoms.
The source of the fatal exposure is unknown, but the virus has previously been detected in poultry in Mexico. The World Health Organization said that based on recent assessments, the risk to the general population is currently low.
The World Health Organization stated: “Existing epidemiological and virological evidence indicates that the A(H5) virus in previous incidents has not yet acquired the ability to sustain human-to-human transmission, so the current risk of sustained human-to-human transmission is The probability is very low.
No other people were found to be infected with the avian influenza virus during the WHO investigation. All 29 people who had contact with the infected person, either in the hospital or in the vicinity of the infected person, tested negative for both influenza and COVID-19.
The avian flu subtype was first discovered in March at a backyard poultry farm in Michoacan state, which borders where infected people live, according to officials.
Health authorities are continuing to monitor people who have come into contact with the infected person, watch for influenza outbreaks in neighboring cities, and are urging environmental and animal health officials to observe infections in poultry and wild birds near where the patient lives.
According to the World Health Organization, people become infected with avian influenza through direct contact with infected birds or “contaminated environments.” The World Health Organization says these infections can lead to fatal upper respiratory tract infections, as well as conjunctivitis, gastrointestinal symptoms, encephalitis and brain lesions.
Currently, there are no vaccines approved for use in humans to prevent avian influenza, although some vaccine candidates are in development.
