Two months shy of the fifth anniversary of COVID-19 being declared a global pandemic, the US has recorded its first human death as a result of avian influenza H5N1 infection. The unidentified Louisiana man contracted the virus through contact with infected wild and domestic birds on his property

Bird flu, or avian influenza, primarily affects birds but there have been cases reported in humans as well. Unfortunately, a patient recently died from severe avian influenza A (H5N1), marking the first fatality from bird flu in the United States.

Bird flu has turned up in a backyard flock in New Haven County. The state Department of Agriculture announced on Friday it’s the second detection of the H5N1 virus in domestic birds this year in the state.