By South China Morning Post | Created at 2025-01-01 03:24:44 | Updated at 2025-01-04 00:14:31
2 days ago
The fate of a Canadian teenager who was infected with H5N1 bird flu in early November, and subsequently admitted to an intensive care unit, has finally been revealed: she has fully recovered.
But genetic analysis of the virus that infected her body showed ominous mutations that researchers suggest potentially allowed it to target human cells more easily and cause severe disease – a development the study authors called “worrisome”.
The case was published Tuesday in a special edition of the New England Journal of Medicine that explored H5N1 cases from 2024 in North America.
In one study, doctors and researchers who worked with the Canadian teenager published their findings. In the other, public health officials from across the US – from the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as state and local health departments – chronicled the 46 human cases that occurred between March and October.
There have been a total of 66 reported human cases of H5N1 bird flu in the US in 2024.
