Nuzzo said the Louisiana patient’s pre-existing health conditions contributed to the severity of the illness, but also pointed to the case of a teenager in Canada who was hospitalized with bird flu in November. The 13-year-old girl was initially seen. in an emergency department in British Columbia for fever and conjunctivitis in both eyes. He was discharged home without treatment and later developed coughing, vomiting, and diarrhea. He returned to the emergency department for shortness of breath a few days later. He was admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit and developed respiratory failure but eventually recovered after treatment. According to a case report published in the New England Journal of Medicine, the girl had a history of mild asthma and a high body mass index. It is not known how he contracted the virus. “What this tells us is that we don’t know who will have mild illness and who will have severe illness, and because of that, we have to respond to these infections very seriously,” Nuzzo said. “We should not assume that all future infections will be mild.” There are other clues that may explain the severity of the Louisiana and British Columbia cases. Viral samples from both patients showed some similarities. For one, they were both infected with the same subtype of H5N1 called D1.1, which is the same virus found in wild birds and poultry. It differs from subtype B3.13, which is dominant in dairy cattle. said Benjamin Anderson, assistant professor of environmental and global health at the University of Florida. Until now, scientists didn’t have enough data to know. Several poultry farm workers in Washington have tested positive for the D1.1 subtype, but those individuals had mild symptoms and did not require hospitalization. We know the person is an older individual. This is a factor that leads to more severe consequences when they have a respiratory infection, “said Anderson. In the case of Louisiana and British Columbia, there is evidence that the virus can develop in both patients to produce a more severe disease. A CDC report from the end of December found a mutation genetics in a virus taken from a Louisiana patient that could increase its ability to infect the human upper respiratory tract. The report said the observed changes were likely caused by virus replication during the patient’s illness rather than being transmitted during infection, meaning the mutation was not present in the affected birds. Writing in the New England Journal of Medicine, the team that treated the Canadian teenager also described the “disruptive” mutation found in the virus sample. These changes could allow the virus to more easily bind to and enter the human respiratory tract. In the past, bird flu was rarely transmitted from people to people, but scientists are worried about a scenario where the virus will acquire the mutations it will do. making human transmission more likely. Currently, people who work with birds, poultry, or cattle, or have recreational exposure to them, are at greater risk of contracting bird flu. To prevent illness, health officials advise against direct contact with wild birds and other animals infected or suspected of having the bird flu virus.
