(Geneva) A first case of death due to avian influenza type H5N2 has been documented in Mexico, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced on Wednesday.
“This is the first laboratory-confirmed human case of infection with an influenza A(H5N2) virus,” the UN organization underlined in an epidemiological bulletin.
The H5N2 strain is different from that (H5N1) linked to the current epidemic in cows in the United States, and for which three human cases have been reported.
Aged 59, the person died on April 24 in a specialized institute in the Mexican capital a few hours after being hospitalized there, this source said. The Mexican Ministry of Health clarified that it was a man.
The patient developed fever, shortness of breath, diarrhea, nausea and general malaise on April 17, said the WHO, which was notified of the case on May 23.
The person had “no known contact” with poultry or other animals, but already suffered from multiple health problems, the WHO said.
This death comes after the discovery in March of cases of H5N2 in farmed poultry in the state of Michoacán, which borders the State of Mexico where the victim lived.
Other cases of H5N2 were then identified the same month in poultry in Texcoco, in the state of Mexico, and in April in Temascalapa, in the same state.
At this stage, “it has not been possible to establish whether this first human case is linked to the recent outbreak in poultry,” however, the WHO clarified. This is the “first avian H5 virus infection in a person reported in Mexico,” she said.
Considered less pathogenic than H5N1, the H5N2 virus has been reported in livestock farms in different countries around the world in recent years. No transmission to humans has been confirmed until now.
Regarding H5N1, there is currently no evidence of human-to-human transmission, but the WHO expressed “huge concern” about the spread of this strain in April.