The Louisiana patient who contracted what officials said was the nation’s first “severe” case of avian influenza has died, the state health department said Monday. The person who contracted the H5N1 strain of highly pathogenic bird flu in southwest Louisiana had been hospitalized since mid-December.

The first patient hospitalized with avian influenza in the United States has died in Louisiana, the state's department of health announced Monday.

The first U.S. bird flu death has been reported. Louisiana health officials announced the death Monday of a person who had been hospitalized with severe respiratory symptoms.

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 who contracted a severe case of avian influenza last month died Monday, marking the first case of a death in the U.S. following contraction of the virus.

The case in Louisiana is the first human death from bird flu in the U.S. during this current outbreak, but there was a death in Mexico back in May 2024 in a patient with no known exposure to farm animals. The case, much like the patient in Louisiana, was in a person with other underlying conditions, though it’s not clear what those may have been.

The risk of catching H5N1 bird flu remains low, and there have been no reported cases of person-to-person spread.

How deadly is the bird flu? The US has reported its first death from avian influenza, H5N1. Here's what to know about bird flu mortality rate and who is at risk.

The risk to the general population from H5N1 bird flu remains low, a World Health Organization spokesperson said on Tuesday, following the first death of a patient from the virus in the United States.