The patient, who was older than 65 and had underlying medical conditions, was hospitalized weeks ago in critical condition with severe respiratory illness.

A person in Louisiana exposed to bird flu by a backyard flock has died. This marks the first U.S. human death linked to H5N1 avian flu.

The first severe human death from bird flu (H5N1) in the U.S. was confirmed in Louisiana, involving a patient with underlying conditions. The patient contracted the virus after exposure to non-commercial backyard birds and wild birds. Public health risk remains low for the general public, but those working with birds or animals have a higher risk.

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.

Amid an escalating bird flu outbreak spreading in the United States, federal health officials have begun to brief members of the incoming Trump administration about how they’ve responded so far to the crisis.

Bird flu is suspected to have caused the death of multiple wild birds recovered across the state last week, New Jersey Fish and Wildlife announced. At least seven snow geese, two Canada geese, and two hawks have yielded presumptive positive results so far for avian influenza,