The bird flu virus that killed 20 big cats in Washington and a pet cat in Oregon and is circulating among cows, poultry and wild birds isn't yet a threat to the general public, experts say. Why it matters: The first human death from bird flu isn't indicative of an imminent crisis,

Over the past two decades, at least 500 people worldwide have died from bird flu known as H5N1. However, the U.S. just experienced its very first bird flu fatality in Louisiana. 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.

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.

Bird flu is suspected to have caused the death of multiple wild birds recovered across the state last week, New Jersey Fish and Wildlife announced. At least seven snow geese, two Canada geese, and two hawks have yielded presumptive positive results so far for avian influenza,

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.

Experts say no bird flu vaccine is needed for humans yet, as mild cases among dairy workers don't warrant it. The current H5N1 strain shows low human transmission risk and responds well to antivirals.

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.