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The First US Bird Flu Death Is a Stark Warning
A Louisiana patient is the first person in the United States to die as a result of H5N1 infection. One expert likens what happens next to Russian roulette.
Nuzzo says it’s very possible that the Louisiana patient’s preexisting health conditions contributed to the severity of their illness, but also points to the case of a teenager in Canada who was hospitalized with bird flu in November. A CDC report from late December found genetic mutations in the virus taken from the Louisiana patient that may have allowed it to enhance its ability to infect the upper airways of humans. The report says the changes observed were likely generated by replication of the virus throughout the patient’s illness rather than transmitted at the time of infection, meaning that the mutations weren’t present in the birds the person was exposed to.
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