A man has become the first person in the US to die from bird flu, but the authorities warn infections are contagious and can be common as they issue a public warning about the symptoms to look out for.

Health authorities warn the main strain of bird flu at the moment, H5N1, caught its first human case in April last year and in eight months, and infected 66 people across 10 States, including Wisconsin.

California even declared a state of emergency in December after 34 people contracted the strain.

But as sufferers mostly reported mild symptoms, virus experts were not prepared for a bird flu death.

Although rare, bird flu can spread to humans (Getty Images)

Yet the Louisiana Department of Health has confirmed an unnamed person has become the first person ever to die from the virus in the US.

The man, who was said to be over the age of 65, had come into contact with a combination of sick backyard flock and wild fowl.

The patient then developed severe respiratory problems as a genetic analysis later revealed the virus had mutated inside him.

Doctors believe the mutated virus possibly caused the man to suffer from a more severe illness which ultimately led to his death.

A sign you may have contracted the virus is difficulty breathing (Getty Images)

Public health bodies are now warning that the death is a stark reminder of the serious threat bird flu continues to pose.

Reacting to the tragic news, Jennifer Nuzzo, director of the Pandemic Center at the Brown University School of Public Health, said: “[Bird flu] is a serious threat and it has historically been a deadly virus. This is just a tragic reminder of that. Just because we have seen mild cases does not mean future cases will continue to be mild”, The Mirror reports.

The Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) also said in a statement: “The patient contracted H5N1 after exposure to a combination of a non-commercial backyard flock and wild birds.

“LDH’s extensive public health investigation has identified no additional H5N1 cases nor evidence of person-to-person transmission. This patient remains the only human case of H5N1 in Louisiana.

“The Department expresses its deepest condolences to the patient’s family and friends as they mourn the loss of their loved one. Due to patient confidentiality and respect for the family, this will be the final update about the patient.”

California declared a state of emergency last month over fears of bird flu spreading (Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu via Getty Images)

While rare, bird flu can easily spread among birds, poultry, other animals and humans.

And it’s not just farmers who should be worried, according to Public Health Madison & Dane County, as anyone who comes into direct or close contact with the infected animals, surfaces, and even milk are at risk.

Symptoms of bird flu can include eye redness or irritation, fever, cough, muscle ache, and respiratory problems like difficulty breathing or, in severe cases, complications like pneumonia or organ failure.

However, the health body says there have been no cases of bird flu spreading from person to person in the US.

Still, among the advice to protect yourself is to get your seasonal flu shot, avoid contact with wild birds and sick or dead animals, and do not consume raw milk or raw milk products.

The LDH added: “If you have been exposed to sick or dead birds or other animals or work on a farm where avian influenza has been detected, watch for respiratory symptoms or conjunctivitis.

“If you develop symptoms within 10 days after exposure to sick or dead animals, tell your healthcare provider that you have been in contact with sick animals and are concerned about avian influenza.

“This will help them give you appropriate advice on testing and treatment. Stay home and away from others while you have symptoms.”

A man who thought he was doing everyone a favor ended up being fined for his actions.

Most drivers try and help each other out, a perfect example being flagging someone down to tell them their car taillight is out.

And this is the kind of thing that Daniel Gehlke did back in 2015, but he ended up being slapped with a $138 penalty instead.

All those years ago, Daniel, from Seattle, Washington, spotted a speed trap up ahead and took it upon himself to make a homemade sign. The sign read: “Cops ahead! Stop at sign and light!”

Daniel was simply doing his fellow drivers a solid, right? Well, a police officer came up to him on the day in question and told him that his sign was giving orders to others, noting the ‘stop at sign and light’ part of his sign.

He went on to scribble out that part of it and continued to hold it up.

The man received a fine for holding up the sign (KOMO News)

In video footage taken at the time, a cop who introduced himself as Officer Elliott said that the sign was ‘against the law’ and asked to see Daniel’s ID.

After the officer filled out copious amounts of paperwork, he went on to tell Daniel that he was citied for ‘Forbidden Device’.

As per Washington State Legislature: “It is unlawful to erect or maintain at or near a city street, county road, or state highway any structure, sign, or device: Visible from a city street, county road, or state highway and simulating any directional, warning, or danger sign or light likely to be mistaken for such a sign or bearing any such words as ‘danger’, ‘stop’, ‘slow’, ‘turn’, or similar words, figures, or directions likely to be construed as giving warning to traffic.”

As a result of this, Daniel was ordered to pay $138. However, he didn’t take the penalty lying down and took the matter to court.

Defending their decision to fine him, Sgt. Sean Whitcomb, a spokesman for the Seattle Police Department said, as per KOMO News: “The specific issue is that he was giving instructions to motorists through the words that he chose, like ‘slow down’ or ‘caution’. That’s exactly the issue. It’s the words that give people orders referring traffic.”

Speaking to the news outlet after getting the fine, Daniel argued: “I am a believer that the Constitution, the Bill of Rights are there specifically so they can’t be modified or restricted. This clearly is not a stop sign.”

Instead of the language being used on the sign, he believed that he was being targeted because of his intentions of trying to help others swerve a speeding ticket.

Ultimately, the case against Daniel was thrown out and he didn’t have to pay the $138 fine.

Scientists have issued a strong warning over a backlog of ‘space junk’ which could put us Earthlings in ‘imminent danger’ if left unaddressed.

Kessler Syndrome is named after American astrophysicist Donal Kessler who was the first to warn masses of debris colliding in space could make for a slow-motion train wreck that pollutes the orbit.

While he issued the warning in 1978, scientists are now fearing the nightmare scenario could quickly become our reality as they observe each orbit is becoming more congested than the last.

The satellite-strewn sky is getting worse (Alan Dyer/VWPics/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Active satellites and other broken bits of debris, from booster rockets to wreckages from weapons tests, and even objects as small as loose screws from space capsules are all contributing to the estimated 130 million and more pieces of junk that are currently orbiting Earth.

The European Space Agency (ESA) claims some 1.1 million piece of debris measure between 0.4 to 0.04 inches wide, and 130 million in the 1-millimetre to 0.4-inch range, but some 40,500 pieces are longer than four inches.

The concern is that the junk is traveling extremely fast, whizzing around Earth at around 18,000 mph, almost seven times faster than a speeding bullet, according to NASA, and even the tiniest of fragments can cause considerable damage.

Despite some 650 collisions being considered major accidents in the last 68 years, planetary scientist and professor at the University of Arizona in Tuscon, Vishnu Reddy, said the number of space launches and subsequent debris in just the last four ‘has increased exponentially’.

An illustration of ‘space junk’ orbiting our planet (Getty Images)

Driven by the rise of private space organizations and a ‘new race’ to the moon, launches have skyrocketed in the last 10 years, from an average of 82 per year between 2008 to 2017 to a whopping 133 per annum from 2018 onwards.

Reddy said: “We are heading towards the situation that we are always dreading.”

There are already an eye-watering 1,000 crash warnings per day in the low-Earth orbit (LEO) zone, roughly 125 miles to 1,250 miles above our planet, which happen to sit at the orbital altitude where Elon Musk launched around 6,800 of SpaceX’s Starling broadband satellites.

There are no signs of slowing down either with SpaceX hoping to increase its spacecrafts to 40,000 while other players from Amazon to China look to enter the ring with their own satellites.

However, scientists say debris in lower orbits aren’t too much of a concern, as they naturally fall back to Earth or burn up in time.

SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft on its launch from Boca Chica, Texas, in November last year (Jon Shapley/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)

It’s the trash polluting GEO (geostationary orbit) that they say we need to worry about, as they can remain stuck in orbit for (literally) millennia and ramp-up the risk of dangerous high-speed collisions.

To make matters worse, a US Air Force weather satellite shattered into 50 fragments in December, just days before Christmas.

Dan Baker, director of the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado, Boulder, addressed the American Geophysical Union panel on Wednesday (December 11) in Washington, warning that our world could be at risk, according to Space.com.

He said: “We have to get serious about this and recognize that, unless we do something, we are in imminent danger of making a whole part of our Earth environment unusable.”

However, the panel admitted it’s hard to measure the Kessler Syndrome risk as the shards are too small to track.

Still, Baker stressed the US should lead in preventing such a tragedy before its too late.

He added: “I think it begins at home, and I believe that we all have to play our role.”