Four people in Brazil are exhibiting symptoms of infection with the avian influenza H5N1 virus, according to the country’s Ministry of Health. All four are from Espirito Santo, the first state to register the presence of the virus, but test results are yet to be returned.
The country first detected the presence of the virus in mid-May. The health ministry has conducted testing on people that may have come into contact with infected birds in Espirto Santo and Rio de Janeiro. In total, 42 people across the two states have been tested. Thirty-eight have tested negative.
In Espirito Santo, 33 workers form the state capital’s public park Parque de Fazendinha, where one of the infected birds was found, have been given the all clear, along with a worker from the marine animal welfare center, Instituto de Pesquisa e Reabilitação de Animais Marinhos (IPRAM). All tests from Rio de Janeiro have also returned negative results.
Global human infections
While the H5N1 virus rarely infects humans, 874 cases have been reported to the World Health Organization since 2003, resulting in 458 deaths. This year, Latin America has also seen human infections in Chile and Ecuador, neither of which proved fatal.
