A man in Mexico with prior health complications has died after contracting the A(H5N2) strain of bird flu, the World Health Organization (WHO) has announced, cautioning that the risk to the general public by the virus remained low.

The global health agency, in a statement on Wednesday, said the 59-year-old died in Mexico City in April after developing symptoms including a fever, shortness of breath, diarrhoea and nausea.

The man’s relatives said he had already been bedridden for three weeks for other reasons before the onset of his acute symptoms.

Mexico’s public health department said in a statement that the man’s underlying ailments included chronic kidney failure, diabetes and high blood pressure.

He sought hospital care on April 24 and died on the same day.