First death from bird flu never seen in humans confirmed by WHO

The World Health Organization has confirmed that a patient has died from a type of bird flu never previously seen in humans.

The WHO shared the news in a statement released on Wednesday (5 June), after the patient, a 59-year-old resident of Mexico, developed symptoms on 17 April.

The patient is said to have experienced fever, shortness of breath, diarrhoea, nausea and general discomfort, and eventually sought medical help one week later.

They were hospitalized at the National Institute of Respiratory Diseases, but died the same day due to complications of their condition.

The patient experienced a number of symptoms. (Getty Stock Photo)

A respiratory sample was collected for testing, and on May 23, the Mexico International Health Regulations (IHR) National Focal Point (NFP) reported to the WHO that the resident had been infected with avian influenza A(H5N2) virus - a subtype of what is more commonly known as bird flu.

The resident had no history of exposure to poultry or other animals, but they did have multiple underlying medical conditions and had been bedridden for three weeks before the acute bird flu symptoms set in.

Their death marks the world's first laboratory-confirmed human case of infection with A(H5N2) subtype of bird flu, and the first H5 virus infection in a person reported in Mexico.

According to the CDC, H5 bird flu is widespread in wild birds worldwide and is responsible for several cases of H5 in US dairy workers due to outbreaks in poultry and dairy cows.

There have been a total of four reported cases of bird flu in humans in the US since 2022, but the CDC assures the current public health risk is low.

The patient didn't have any contact with animals. (Getty Stock Photo)

"[The] CDC is watching the situation carefully and working with states to monitor people with animal exposures," the organization said.

After the resident in Mexico was determined to have been infected with the virus, authorities conducted an epidemiological investigation and found that no further cases were reported.

Though the resident had no history of exposure to poultry, the WHO reported that a high pathogenicity avian influenza A(H5N2) outbreak was detected in March in a backyard poultry farm in the state of Michoacán, which borders the State of Mexico where the case was residing.

The same month, an outbreak of low pathogenicity avian influenza A(H5N2) was identified in poultry in Texcoco, State of Mexico, and a second outbreak of LPAI A(H5N2) in April in the municipality of Temascalapa.

However, it has not yet been possible to establish if the human case is related to the recent poultry outbreaks.