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.

In early December 2024, a group of researchers published an article in the journal Science, entitled "A single mutation in bovine influenza H5N1 hemagglutinin switches specificity to human receptors".

Two months shy of the fifth anniversary of COVID-19 being declared a global pandemic, the US has recorded its first human death as a result of avian influenza H5N1 infection. The unidentified Louisiana man contracted the virus through contact with infected wild and domestic birds on his property

The first person in the U.S. just died from a strain of the virus in Louisiana, but there’s still some simple ways to stay safe.

A variant of the virus caused disease in people in 1997, when there was a small but deadly outbreak in Hong Kong. Eighteen people had confirmed diagnoses, and six of them died. Since then, there have been sporadic cases around the world—but no large outbreaks.

A researcher at Brigham and Women’s Hospital said the bird flu virus needs to be taken seriously so it doesn’t become the next pandemic.

Extreme weather events could also displace bird habitats, change the way they access food, and consequently impact the way that species can fend off a virus, said Dr. Erin Sorrell, a virologist and a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.

As The New York Times reported, a senior with underlying medical conditions was hospitalized and died from bird flu around the start of the new year. The older adult is believed to have contracted the disease from a backyard poultry flock and wild birds,