With reports of the first human death from bird flu in the US, some Americans are feeling an uncomfortable flashback to the early days of Covid-19, when infectious disease experts were talking about a new virus that was sending people to the hospital with respiratory infections.

There is still a danger, however: a person in Louisiana recently became the first person in the country to die from H5N1. Louisiana health officials said the patient was over the age of 65 and had underlying medical conditions. They contracted bird flu after exposure to a personal backyard flock and also wild birds.

The Louisiana Department of Health said on Monday that a U.S. patient hospitalized with H5N1 bird flu has died.

The case in Louisiana is the first human death from bird flu in the U.S. during this current outbreak, but there was a death in Mexico back in May 2024 in a patient with no known exposure to farm animals. The case, much like the patient in Louisiana, was in a person with other underlying conditions, though it’s not clear what those may have been.

A U.S. patient who had been hospitalized with H5N1 bird flu has died, the Louisiana Department of Health said on Monday (January 7), marking the country's first reported human death from the virus. This report produced by Jillian Kitchener.

The Louisiana patient who contracted what officials said was the nation’s first “severe” case of avian influenza has died, the state health department said Monday. The person who contracted the H5N1 strain of highly pathogenic bird flu in southwest Louisiana had been hospitalized since mid-December.

A patient in Louisiana has died from H5N1 bird flu. This is the first H5N1 bird flu death in the U.S. The virus has shown signs of mutating in patients. The U.S. has experienced its first death from bird flu (H5N1).

How deadly is the bird flu? The US has reported its first death from avian influenza, H5N1. Here's what to know about bird flu mortality rate and who is at risk.