The increase in cases in the state comes as a Louisiana man with underlying health conditions died from the disease on Monday. Experts say those who come into contact with wild birds or other animals like cattle should take precautions.

Bird flu is increasingly sparking concern across the country and in Illinois, following news this week of the first human death from the virus in the U.S., and of birds found throughout Illinois with suspected cases of the illness.

More should be done to control the spread of bird flu among animals to avoid more cases in humans, the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) said on Wednesday, following the first death of a patient from the virus in the United States.

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

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,

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.