(HealthDay News) – La severe bird flu infection of a Canadian teenager has highlighted growing concerns about the virus H5N1commonly known as bird fluwhich has seen a steady rise in human cases across the US.
According to a news release, the 13-year-old girl, who was hospitalized in November, had asthma and obesity but was otherwise in good health before contracting H5N1. He became seriously ill with multiple organ failure and required advanced life support, including extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) and continuous dialysis.
The teenager recovered after aggressive treatment with three antiviral medicationsbut the source of his infection is still unknown.
“She had multiple organ failure and was terribly ill,” Dr. Megan Ranney, dean of the Yale School of Public Health. “If those extraordinary treatment modalities were not available, I probably would not have survived.”
His case, published on December 31, 2024 in the New England Journal of Medicine, highlights the possible dangers of new H5N1 variants such as D1.1, which have shown genetic changes that could mean they are adapting to humans.
Experts, including Dr. Jennifer Nuzzo, of the Brown University Pandemic Center, have sounded the alarm about these findings, emphasizing an increased risk of human-to-human transmission. ”This is a very worrying result that “We should be much more concerned about what happens with other infections”I say Nuzzo.
Los Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also published data from the study on the first 46 confirmed human H5N1 infections in the United States this year.
Most cases were mild, related to exposure to infected animals or raw milk, with symptoms such as conjunctivitis and fever lasting about four days.
However, serious cases, such as the adolescent in Canada and a recent one in LouisianaUSA, have raised concerns. What the numbers show:
- 93% of infections in agricultural workers included red eyes or conjunctivitis (42 of 46 cases).
- Nearly 50 percent of cases involved fever, while 36 percent experienced respiratory symptoms.
- The average duration of illness was 4 days.
- 66 confirmed human H5N1 cases in the US so far this year
- Recent testing on dairy farms revealed that 7% of workers had evidence of H5N1 infection.
“The risk will really come when this obviously gets better at infecting humans, and then we face the potential for human-to-human transmission,” Marrazzo said. Although there are not many cases in humans, experts say the persistent detection of H5N1 in humans and animals is concerning. “This virus doesn’t miss a beat”, concluded Marrazzo.
*The CDC has the current status of the H5N1 virus, commonly known as bird flu. SOURCE: New England Journal of Medicine, study, December 31, 2024; cnn
* India Edwards HealthDay Reporter ©The New York Times 2025
