The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported differing mutations of the Avian Influenza A (H5N1) in the first severe case from previous cases and from the samples from the infected backyard flock on the patient’s property.
The CDC expressed its worry about the matter and suggested that the changes emerged during infection due to the replication of virus in the patient’s body. It stated that transformations can occur in the A(H5N1) virus during the clinical course of a human infection.
US reported its first severe case of the A (H5N1) virus of the D11 genotype from a 65-year-old resident of Louisiana, suffering from severe respiratory illness earlier this month. This genotype is closely related to the other D11 viruses detected in wild birds and poultry in the US and in recent human cases in British Columbia, Canada, and Washington.
The changes reported in the patient have not been identified in the poultry found on the patient’s property any other wild birds and poultry in Louisiana suggesting that the changes emerged during infection due to the replication of the virus in the patient. Further there is no sign of transmission of this virus from human to human.
