(Geneva) The death of the first human case of H5N2 avian flu is “multifactorial”, the World Health Organization said on Friday, indicating that analyzes were continuing to determine the origin of the infection.
The WHO announced Wednesday that a first laboratory-confirmed human case of H5N2 had been reported in Mexico, saying he died on April 24.
According to the Mexican Ministry of Health, the 59-year-old suffered from “chronic kidney disease, type 2 diabetes” and, “for a long time, systemic high blood pressure.”
He had been bedridden for three weeks before the onset of acute symptoms, which began on April 17 with fever, shortness of breath, diarrhea, nausea and general malaise, WHO said. was notified on May 23.
He was hospitalized in the Mexican capital on April 24 and died within the day.
“This is a multifactorial death and not a death attributable to the H5N2 virus,” WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier said at a press briefing Friday in Geneva.
His body was then subjected to routine tests for influenza and other viruses, which detected H5N2.
“At this point, because it’s a multifactorial disease, it’s a multifactorial death,” Lindmeier insisted.
No other cases have been detected among his contacts, in hospital or at his place of residence.
“The H5N2 virus infection is under investigation to determine whether he was infected by a person during a visit or through previous contact with animals,” the spokesperson said. WHO.
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 subsequently identified the same month in poultry in Texcoco, in the State of Mexico, and in April in Temascalapa, in the same state.
On Thursday, Dr. Aspen Hammond of the WHO’s Global Influenza Program said it is too early to comment on the virus, saying we should wait until we know its characteristics “and the availability of complete genetic sequence data.
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.