WHO now says patient’s death in Mexico is ‘not linked’ to bird flu

If on Wednesday WHO reported the world’s first human death from bird flu AH5N2, then on Friday it clarified that the death of this person was A 59-year-old man from Mexico. died on April 24 due to “multifactorial causes”. “It was a death due to a complex of factors, not related to the H5N2 virus”fixed it now Christian LindmeierWHO representative, at a press conference this Friday in Geneva.

The patient was in bed for three weeks and then admitted to the hospital due to respiratory complications, Lindmeier explained. WHO reported, based on information from Mexican health authorities, that the patient began experiencing acute symptoms including fever, respiratory distress, diarrhea, nausea and malaise on April 17, and that he died on the 24th of that month. Doctors conducted several tests and discovered that the patient was infected with H5N2 bird flu, Lindmeier said.

Mexican health authorities said Thursday that the patient’s cause of death was under investigation. investigated, but they emphasized that the 59-year-old man, who suffered from diabetes, had kidney failure and, a few hours later, respiratory failure. He Health Minister Jorge Alcocer, cast doubt on a WHO statement on Wednesday that said the case was the first recorded infection in humans, as well as the first death. “The WHO statement is pretty bad. From the very beginning it says there was a death, which was not the case. He died from a different cause,” Alcocer said.

“The investigation is ongoing. A serological study is being carried out. It includes a blood test of contacts to find out if there was any possible previous infection,” Lindmeier explained. 17 contacts of the hospital cases were identified, all of whom tested negative. During the previous weeks, the patient had 12 contacts at home, none of which tested positive. “The H5N2 infection is being investigated to determine whether he was infected by someone who visited him or as a result of previous contact with the animal,” the spokesman insisted.

In its initial statement, WHO said the source of the infection was unknown, but in March an outbreak of H5N2 influenza was discovered at a poultry farm in Michoacán, which borders Mexico state. Additionally, other cases were confirmed in poultry in March in Texcoco and in April in Temazcalapa, two municipalities in Mexico State.