US has critical bird flu case, California declares state of emergency

California [US], December 19: The US recorded a case of bird flu in a patient with critical condition, while the state of California declared a state of emergency to deal with H5N1.
Reuters reported on December 19 that the US has just recorded its first severe case of bird flu in a patient in Louisiana, who was hospitalized in critical condition after suspected contact with an infected animal in his yard.
In that context, California - the most populous state in the US - declared a state of emergency over H5N1 , a virus that continues to spread among dairy cows and has infected dozens of farm workers this year.
According to the Louisiana Department of Health, the patient had a serious respiratory illness, with factors such as underlying health conditions and age over 65 putting the patient at higher risk.
This is the first case involving backyard pets, not commercial poultry, said Demetre Daskalakis, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The CDC says bird flu remains a low risk to the general public. The CDC has confirmed 61 human cases nationwide since April, mostly among dairy workers. Workers who cull infected poultry have also tested positive.
The CDC said partial genome data from the patient showed the virus belonged to genotype D1.1, which has been recently detected in wild birds and poultry in the United States and in recent human cases in British Columbia (Canada) and Washington state (USA).
The genotype of this virus is different from the B3.13 genotype detected in dairy cattle, human cases in multiple states, and several poultry outbreaks across the country.
Source: Thanh Nien Newspaper