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.

The bird flu, also known as avian influenza and H5N1, was implicated in the first human death from the infectious disease on January 6. But still, no human-to-human transmission has been reported.

One U.S. person, a Louisiana resident, has died after contracting bird flu since the beginning of 2024. There have been around 950 confirmed cases of bird flu in humans internationally since 2003, and around half those people have died, according to World Health Organization data.

The death comes as multiple infectious diseases are surging throughout the US, including the 10th wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and major spikes in seasonal influenza, norovirus, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV),

There is still a danger, however: a person in Louisiana recently became the first person in the country to die from H5N1. Louisiana health officials said the patient was over the age of 65 and had underlying medical conditions. They contracted bird flu after exposure to a personal backyard flock and also wild birds.

Any time a person catches H5N1, or bird flu, their infection is a chance for the virus to mutate in the wrong direction. When someone dies from the bird flu—as an elderly Louisiana man did on Jan. 6,

The CDC says the risk of bird flu to the general public is low, but public health experts say they are worried the virus could mutate and become more transmissible.