A variant of the virus caused disease in people in 1997, when there was a small but deadly outbreak in Hong Kong. Eighteen people had confirmed diagnoses, and six of them died. Since then, there have been sporadic cases around the world—but no large outbreaks.

Hundreds of Canadian geese have been found dead this winter in Owatonna, Albert Lea, Waseca and other southern Minnesota cities.

The U.S. will rebuild its stockpile of bird flu vaccines for poultry matched to the current strain of the virus circulating among commercial flocks and wild birds, the Department of Agriculture said on Wednesday.

In its announcement this week of the first human death from bird flu in the United States, health officials in Louisiana were quick to note that the patient was over age 65 and “reported to have underlying medical conditions.

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,