WHO Confirms First Human Death Due To Bird Flu, H5N2 Variant: Report

New Delhi: A person in Mexico died of bird flu in the first confirmed case of a human infected with the H5N2 variant, the World Health Organization said Wednesday. The 59-year-old, who died on April 24 after developing fever, shortness of breath, diarrhoea and nausea, had “no history of exposure to poultry or other animals” and “multiple underlying medical conditions”, the WHO said in a statement, according to AFP.

The resident of the State of Mexico was hospitalised in Mexico City and died the same day, the statement said. It was the “first laboratory-confirmed human case of infection with an influenza A(H5N2) virus reported globally”, the WHO added.

Mexican health authorities reported the confirmed case to the UN health body on May 23 after conducting laboratory tests. The source of exposure to the virus was unknown, the WHO said, although cases of H5N2 have been reported in poultry in Mexico.

H5N2 cases were detected in a backyard poultry farm in Michoacan state in March, with other outbreaks identified in the State of Mexico, according to the UN health body. But it said establishing a link between the human case and the poultry infections was so far impossible, estimating the risk to people as “low”.