Person in Mexico died of a bird flu strain that hadn't been confirmed before in a human, WHO says
Health authorities say a death in Mexico was caused by a type of bird flu called H5N2 that has never before been found in a human
By Lauran Neergaard
Published - Jun 05, 2024, 07:50 PM ET
Last Updated - Jun 05, 2024, 08:00 PM EDT
WASHINGTON (AP) — A death in Mexico was caused by a strain of bird flu called H5N2 that has never before been found in a human, the World Health Organization said Wednesday.
The WHO said it wasn’t clear how the person became infected, although H5N2 has been reported in poultry in Mexico.
There are numerous types of bird flu. H5N2 is not the same strain that has infected multiple dairy cow herds in the U.S. That strain is called H5N1 and three farmworkers have gotten mild infections.
Other bird flu varieties have killed people across the world in previous years, including 18 people in China during an outbreak of H5N6 in 2021, according to a timeline of bird flu outbreaks from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
