Mexico City. It was proven for the first time that the A(H5N2) virus is responsible for the death of a person. However, the WHO sees a low risk to the population.
The World Health Organization (WHO) detected the world’s first laboratory-confirmed human death from a subspecies of bird flu in Mexico. A 59-year-old person died in Mexico City on April 25 after being infected with the A (H5N2) virus, the WHO said in a statement. The affected person was hospitalized because of fever, shortness of breath, diarrhea, nausea and malaise.
It is not known how the person became infected. The WHO said detection of the virus in birds has been reported in Mexico. In March, an outbreak of A(H5N2) was detected on a poultry farm in the state of Michoacán – which borders the state of Mexico, where the infected person lived.
“Based on available information, WHO assesses that the current risk to the general population posed by this virus is low,” the WHO said. The infected person had several underlying illnesses and had not been in contact with poultry or other animals.
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