WHO Says Comorbidities, Not Bird Flu, Caused Mexican Man’s Death, Changes Initial Report

In April the man—who reportedly had no contact with poultry or other animals—began to experience shortness of breath, diarrhea, nausea, and fever, the WHO said.

A test tube labeled "Bird Flu" and eggs in a picture illustration on Jan. 14, 2023. Dado Ruvic/Illustration/Reuters

Mexican officials have determined that a man previously thought to have died from a rare bird flu instead died from other comorbidities, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

The WHO initially reported on June 5 that in May a 59-year-old man was admitted to a hospital in Mexico City after having been “bedridden for three weeks,” and was diagnosed with a rare strain of bird flu called H5N2, marking the first “laboratory-confirmed human case” of this strain of bird flu infection globally and the first case reported in Mexico.