A Louisiana man in his 60s who was hospitalized with the first severe case of bird flu in the U.S. has died, the Louisiana Department of Health announced Monday. According to STAT News, it’s the first bird flu-related death in the U.S. — and all of North America.
The man, who has not been named, was older than 65 and had underlying medical conditions not specified in the health department’s announcement. He was hospitalized with severe respiratory illness after contracting the H5N1 bird flu virus last month from exposure to wild birds and a backyard flock of birds.
Louisiana health officials didn’t provide details about when the man died or what treatment he received. According to the health department, no other bird flu cases have been identified in Louisiana.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) maintains its position that bird flu poses a low risk to public health.
In a statement published by The Washington Post, the CDC said, “While tragic, a death from H5N1 bird flu in the United States is not unexpected because of the known potential for infection with these viruses to cause severe illness and death.”
According to STAT News, 67 cases of bird flu have been recorded in the U.S. since last year. The Post reported that in almost all cases, the patients experienced “mild illnesses” such as respiratory symptoms or pink eye, and all except the Louisiana man recovered. Most who became ill are poultry or dairy farmworkers.
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Media reporting on bird flu ‘reminiscent of the fearmongering’ during COVID
Mainstream media has widely attributed the Louisiana man’s death to bird flu, but experts who spoke with The Defender struck a note of caution.
“We do not have details on the type of hospital he was in for many weeks, treatment received, and what the ultimate cause of death was in his case,” cardiologist Dr. Peter McCullough told The Defender.
“This is not the same as saying the patient died of bird flu. [The Louisiana Health Department] conspicuously stops short of making that claim. If the health department reporting the case is not willing to declare bird flu to be the cause of death, it is irresponsible for anyone else to draw this conclusion,” internal medicine physician Dr. Clayton J. Baker told The Defender.
Baker said such messaging on the part of some media outlets “is reminiscent of the fearmongering that was so prevalent during COVID-19, where numerous patients who actually died ‘with COVID’ were classified as ‘COVID deaths.’”
Epidemiologist Nicolas Hulscher told The Defender that, because there are few details about the Louisiana man’s death and the underlying conditions he previously experienced, “it’s entirely possible that this patient died because of his other conditions, with bird flu infection pushing him over the edge.”
“Regardless, we can expect the biopharmaceutical complex to use this case as a tool to fear-monger and push for bird flu vaccinations,” Hulscher said.
Speaking on CBS’ “Face the Nation” Dec. 29, 2024, Dr. Leana Wen, the former commissioner of the Baltimore City Health Department and a professor of public health at George Washington University, called for more testing — and for the Biden administration to approve the bird flu vaccine before leaving office.
“There actually is a vaccine developed already against H5N1,” Wen said. “The Biden administration has contracted with manufacturers to make almost 5 million doses of the vaccine. However, they have not asked the FDA [U.S. Food and Drug Administration] to authorize the vaccine.”
Dr. Meryl Nass, founder of Door to Freedom, questioned the need for a bird flu vaccine. “Why would you use a vaccine in humans that has not been shown to work or be safe, for a disease that has only killed one elderly sick person and does not spread person-to-person?” Nass asked?
In October 2024, New York City health officials held a tabletop simulation of a bird flu outbreak.
Existing bird flu vaccines not designed for current bird flu variant
According to CNN, a genetic analysis the CDC performed last month determined that the virus that infected the Louisiana man mutated, enhancing its ability to infect the upper airways of humans.
“Those same changes were not seen in the birds the person had been exposed to, officials said, indicating that they had developed in the person after they were infected,” CNN reported.
According to the Post, “Bird flu viruses normally attach to a cell receptor that is rare in human upper airways,” making it difficult for most strains of bird flu to spread from person to person.
The mutated version of the virus found in the Louisiana man does not appear to have spread. “Genetic analysis of the virus in wild birds and poultry in Louisiana, including poultry on the patient’s property, and in other parts of the United States, did not detect similar viral changes,” the Post reported.
According to the Post, “Such changes would be more concerning … if they were also found in animals or within a few days of the start of symptoms, because that would suggest the virus was already acquiring these mutations.”
Nass said that the “longer a virus is able to reproduce inside a body, the more mutations you will find, and some are sure to improve its ability to infect human cells. The same thing occurred with COVID. It had no clinical significance then, either,” Nass added.
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CNN reported that the Louisiana man was infected with the D1.1 clade of the bird flu virus — a strain that is currently circulating in wild birds and poultry, but not in dairy cattle that have been infected with bird flu. In November 2024, a teenager in the Canadian province of British Columbia was infected with this strain but recovered.
“Since we only have the Louisiana elder and the British Columbia teen who have come down with this particular strain of bird flu, it is not possible to say anything about the clinical illness, the propensity to infect others due to contact with wild birds, or even the risk of death,” Nass said.
Brian Hooker, Ph.D., chief scientific officer for Children’s Health Defense, told The Defender the mutation seen in the Louisiana man may be man-made.
“The type of mutation seen in the man’s H5N1 isolates is reminiscent of research that is being done by Yoshihiro Kawaoka, Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin and Jessica Belser, Ph.D. at the CDC. Both researchers are attempting to humanize the virus so it can spread via respiratory droplets,” Hooker said.
Kawaoka and Belser are known for their involvement with gain-of-function research, where the transmissibility and virulence of pathogens are enhanced.
Dr. Richard Bartlett, an emergency room director and former Texas Department of Health and Human Services advisory council member, told The Defender that existing bird flu vaccines have not been designed for the D1.1 clade. He said:
“My understanding is that this is a different clade than bird flu vaccines that have already been purchased by governments around the world. In other words, they missed the mark. With vaccines it’s all or nothing. The winning treatment strategy will be early treatment.
“The question is, will the National Institutes of Health, CDC, World Health Organization [WHO] and government leaders — that are not doctors or scientists — repeat their mistakes? Will they push one option only? Vaccinate or bust? Are they slow learners? In 2009, we had the H1N1 pandemic with a highly contagious and very dangerous flu virus. Not one person was vaccinated, and the pandemic was over in nine months.”
According to the WHO, there have been nearly 900 human bird flu cases worldwide since 2003, and roughly half of those patients died. But according to CNN, “Because severe cases are more likely to be reported than mild ones, mild illnesses probably aren’t being factored into that figure.”
