She is the fifth person to die from the disease.
A child in Australia died after contracting a rare virus that usually only affects pigeons.
This is written by nypost.com.
The unnamed two-year-old girl was taken to Prince of Wales Hospital in Randwick, New South Wales, after three weeks of nausea, vomiting and cold-like symptoms, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
Just six months before the onset of symptoms, she had completed her second round of chemotherapy to treat acute pre-B cell lymphoblastic leukemia.
Her condition continued to deteriorate and four days later she developed febrile epilepsy syndrome associated with infection and began having epileptic seizures.
Doctors ran a variety of tests, including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), autoimmune studies, evaluation of genetic abnormalities, and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests that checked for bacterial, fungal, viral or mycobacterial pathogens, but all found nothing.
The girl was given antiviral drugs, antibiotics, and anti-seizure drugs to help treat brain swelling and reduce discomfort, but nothing relieved her symptoms as her brain continued to swell.
She died 27 days after being admitted to the hospital.
After her death, medical tests revealed that she was a carrier of a severe strain of avian paramyxovirus-1, APMV-1, resulting in Newcastle disease. Newcastle disease is a highly contagious and fatal viral disease affecting birds and poultry (usually pigeons), named after the city where it was first discovered in 1926.
Medical experts concluded that the child died from cerebral swelling caused by an infection that began in his nose or mouth due to possible exposure to the feces or fluids of infected pigeons.
The first documented case of human infection with APMV-1 was reported in Australia in 1942. Since then, 485 human cases have been reported worldwide, more than half of which have been reported in the United Kingdom. Four people died in the Netherlands, USA, China and France. In rare cases, the virus infects people and usually only causes conjunctivitis.
Experts note that this case notes links to leukemia treatment, infectious triggers and neurological complications, especially in younger patients.
Remember, a girl with an incredibly rare disease sneezes 12,000 times a day. She had to drop out of school.
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