The death comes at a time when the H5N1 virus has recently undergone an unusual mutation that is causing concern to the World Health Organization.

With reports of the first human death from bird flu in the US, some Americans are feeling an uncomfortable flashback to the early days of Covid-19, when infectious disease experts were talking about a new virus that was sending people to the hospital with respiratory infections.

The death of a Louisiana resident who was over the age of 65 signals that future H5N1 infections are not guaranteed to be mild, health experts say

The death comes as multiple infectious diseases are surging throughout the US, including the 10th wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and major spikes in seasonal influenza, norovirus, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV),

Explore the implications of the first human death from H5N1 bird flu in the US and what it means for public health.

The bird flu, also known as avian influenza and H5N1, was implicated in the first human death from the infectious disease on January 6. But still, no human-to-human transmission has been reported.

A person in the United States has died after contracting H5N1 bird flu, marking the country’s first death from the virus. The unidentified patient, who was over the age of 65 and suffered from underlying medical conditions, is believed to have contracted the virus following exposure to backyard flock and wild birds.

The U.S. will rebuild its stockpile of bird flu vaccines for poultry matched to the current strain of the virus circulating among commercial flocks and wild birds, the Department of Agriculture said on Wednesday.

The LDH revealed that the patient was over age 65, had underlying medical conditions and contracted bird flu after exposure to both wild birds and a non-commercial backyard flock.

Any time a person catches H5N1, or bird flu, their infection is a chance for the virus to mutate in the wrong direction. When someone dies from the bird flu—as an elderly Louisiana man did on Jan. 6,