The alarm is raised, the first case of bird flu in humans is discovered

Chile's health authorities have identified the first human case of bird flu, the Ministry of Health announced in Santiago. He is a 53-year-old man with severe flu. According to the ministry, the patient is in hospital in a stable condition.

Authorities are conducting an investigation to determine the source of the infection and are tracing the patient's contacts. Chilean authorities had reported cases of H5N1 in wild birds in early December. Recent outbreaks in poultry farms have forced the government to suspend poultry exports.

Cases have also been recorded on poultry farms in Argentina, however Brazil, the country with the largest poultry exports in the world, has not detected any cases, remaining officially free of the virus. Chilean health authorities noted that the virus can be transmitted from birds or marine mammals to humans, but there are no known cases of human-to-human transmission in the country.

On January 10, Ecuadorian authorities confirmed the first extremely rare case of A-H5 influenza in a 9-year-old girl.