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Wired

The First US Bird Flu Death Is a Stark Warning

Wired
Summary
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A patient who was hospitalized with severe bird flu in December has died in Louisiana .

It is the first death recorded in the United States attributed to H5N1, or avian influenza .

Experts worry about more cases of severe illness—and potentially more deaths.

A total of 66 people in the US tested positive for bird flu last year .

A CDC report from late December found genetic mutations in the virus taken from the Louisiana patient that may have allowed it to enhance its ability to infect the upper airways of humans.

The changes were likely generated by replication of the virus throughout the patient’s illness rather than transmitted at the time of infection.