Mexico confirms country's first human case of bird flu in a 3-year-old girl

MEXICO CITY — A 3-year-old girl from the western state of Durango is Mexico's first confirmed human case of bird flu, health officials said Friday.

Type A H5N1 influenza has been spreading through animals and some people in the United States. There have been 70 cases in that country since during the past year, according to the World Health Organization, though researchers and studies suggest that’s likely an undercount.

In Mexico, the girl was in serious condition in a hospital in Torreon in the neighboring state of Coahuila, the health ministry said in a statement Friday. It said she had initially been treated with an anti-flu medication.

It was not known how the girl contracted the virus. Investigators were testing wild birds in the vicinity of the girl’s home, the statement said.

The health ministry said the risk to the general population from the virus was considered low.