WHO reports first human death linked to H5N2 bird flu

LAST April 24th, a 59-year-old man in Mexico died due to the H5N2 bird flu variant. Some symptoms reported were shortness of breath, fever, diarrhea, nausea, and general malaise. Before being hospitalized he had been bedridden for a number of weeks.

The case was then reported to the UN health body on May 23, and has been labeled by the World Health Organization (WHO) to be the first-ever laboratory-confirmed human case of infection with the H5N2 virus reported globally.

What is especially worrying is that the man was found to have no history of exposure to poultry or other animals. He also had several underlying health conditions, which may have contributed to his death.

Wild aquatic birds often contract avian influenza or bird flu which is then spread to domestic poultry, as well as other bird and animal species. While this virus is not known to spread to humans, a number of cases in the past prove otherwise, as seen with other variants of the disease.

Dr. Troy Sutton, an assistant professor of veterinary and biomedical sciences, explains that H5 viruses have been circulating among Mexico’s wild birds and poultry since the mid-1990s, reassuring that the H5 virus rarely infects humans.

This is not to be confused with H5N1, another strain of the virus that has affected a number of dairy cows in the U.S. just this March. H5N1 has since infected several people in 23 different countries since 1997.

As for the H5N2 bird flu variant, no other cases in humans have been reported since, though experts are still unsure how the patient was originally infected by said virus.

While symptoms may vary, some reported that could be signs of this disease are the following:

• Red eye (conjunctivitis)
• Pneumonia
• Fever or feeling feverish
• Cough
• Sore throat
• Runny / stuffy nose
• Muscle / body / headaches
• Fatigue
• Shortness of breath / difficulty breathing
• Diarrhea
• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Seizures