Death due to bird flu reported

This June 5, the World Health Organization reported the first global death of a person in Mexico infected with the H5N2 avian flu virus.

The WHO describes that the death occurred on May 23, being reported to the Organization after the contagion was confirmed in a 59-year-old man, a resident of the State of Mexico, who was hospitalized in Mexico City.

It should be noted that he had no record of exposure to poultry or other animals.

Time magazine highlighted that it is the first death after infection with a strain of bird flu that had not been confirmed in humans before.

A report dated May 24 indicates that globally between January 2003 and May 2024, 889 cases of the influenza A(H5N1) virus alone have been confirmed, 463 of them fatal.

The patient in Mexico had multiple medical conditions and his family had reported that he had been sick for at least three weeks and was in bed, before presenting the most severe symptoms.

On April 17, the man developed fever, shortness of breath, diarrhea, nausea and general malaise. On the 24th he sought medical attention, being hospitalized at the National Institute of Respiratory Diseases (INER) and died that day due to complications of his condition.

Subsequent studies confirmed that it was avian influenza type A(H5N2). During an epidemiological investigation, no more cases were detected and of the contacts identified, only one had a runny nose. There are pending tests.

In March of this year, two outbreaks have been detected on farms, one in Michoacán and another in the State of Mexico.