Claim: Bird flu diagnosis ‘made up’ for patient who died in Mexico
A June 25 Instagram post ( direct link , archive link ) claims that a dead man who health officials said was infected with a certain type of bird flu did not have the virus.
“The boy who allegedly died of bird flu in Mexico had ‘chronic kidney disease and type 2 diabetes’ and ‘no history of exposure to birds,'” said the post, which is a screenshot of a post on X, formerly Twitter. “Oh, they basically made up the bird flu part. Because of course they did.”
The post was liked more than 900 times in a week. The original X post has been reposted thousands of times.
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A laboratory confirmed through genetic analysis that the man in Mexico was infected with a strain of bird flu that had not previously been found in humans, according to the World Health Organization. The man died of underlying medical conditions, not the virus.
The man died of underlying disease but still had bird flu
In late April, a 59-year-old man hospitalized in Mexico died after being confirmed to be the first person infected with a strain of bird flu not previously found in humans. Mexican authorities said the man died of complications related to multiple health conditions, not the virus, the WHO said in a June 14 statement.
The man’s relatives reported that he had been bedridden for three weeks for other reasons before experiencing bird flu symptoms. However, there is no evidence that the man’s bird flu infection was “fabricated,” as the post claims. It was the first laboratory-confirmed human case of H5N2 bird flu reported globally.
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Experts investigating the man’s cause of death concluded that “although the patient had a laboratory-confirmed infection with (the H5N2 virus strain), he died due to complications of his co-morbidities,” the WHO statement said. .
A genetic analysis confirmed the strain of the virus and found it had a “99% similarity” to a strain obtained from poultry in Mexico in early 2024, although the exact source of human exposure is “currently unknown,” according to WHO -‘s. The post correctly notes that the man had no known history of exposure to birds.
Genetics allows researchers to identify strains of the virus
Bird flu, or bird flu, is a virus that spreads among wild birds and can also infect domestic birds and other animal species. It is not often spread to humans, but sporadic infections have been reported. There have been fewer than 1,000 cases reported globally since it was first identified in humans in 1997, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
In humans, symptoms can resemble a typical flu — fever, sore throat, muscle aches, nausea and congestion, among others — but can also progress to more serious respiratory symptoms.
Researchers identify types of viruses through a process called genetic characterization, said Dr. Dean Blumberg, chief of pediatric infectious diseases at UC Davis Health. It involves comparing the genetic sequences of different viruses, according to the CDC.
In the case at hand, the National Institute of Respiratory Diseases in Mexico confirmed that the type of virus was H5N2.
“Therefore, this is not ‘made up,'” Blumberg told USA TODAY. “The report of H5N2 infection is based on genetic sequencing.”
Three cases of a different strain of bird flu have been detected in humans in the US since the beginning of July 2024, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
USA TODAY reached out to the social media user who shared the post for comment, but did not immediately hear back.
Our fact-checking resources:
- Dr. Dean Blumberg, June 28, Email exchange with USA TODAY
- WHO, June 14, Avian Influenza A(H5N2) – Mexico
- WHO, June 5, Avian Influenza A(H5N2) – Mexico
- Cleveland Clinic, accessed June 28, Avian Flu (Bird Flu)
- CDC, June 22, How CDC is monitoring human flu data to better understand the current avian influenza A (H5N1) situation
- CDC, accessed June 28, Influenza virus genome sequence and genetic characterization
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