Mexico Confirms First Human Case of Bird Flu

Mexican health authorities announced on Saturday the country's first confirmed human case of bird flu.

According to the Ministry of Health, the case was detected in Durango State in western Mexico and involves a three-year-old girl who is currently in critical condition at a hospital in Torreón, Coahuila, the neighboring state.

The ministry's statement noted that the child initially received treatment with antiviral medications. Investigators are now examining wild birds near the child's home to determine how she contracted the virus.

Authorities emphasized that the risk to the general population remains low.

This development follows a March report from the World Organisation for Animal Health, which revealed that the United States had recorded its first outbreak of the H7N9 strain of bird flu in poultry farms since 2017.

Bird flu, a highly contagious disease, has spread across the globe in recent years, leading to the culling of hundreds of millions of birds, including widespread outbreaks in the United States.