Over 300 million poultry birds have been killed or culled since October 2021 as a result of chook flu.
Well being consultants have been sounding the alarm concerning the potential pandemic risk posed by chook flu, which has been displaying indicators of mutating because it spreads amongst cows and infects folks in the USA.
There isn’t any assure that chook flu will ever start transmitting between people, and US well being authorities have emphasised that the danger to most people stays low.
Greater than 300 million poultry birds have been killed or culled since October 2021, whereas 315 completely different species of untamed birds have died throughout 79 international locations, the World Group for Animal Well being instructed AFP.
Mammals that ate the contaminated birds, comparable to seals, have additionally skilled mass-die offs.
The scenario modified once more in March, when the virus started spreading amongst dairy cows throughout the USA in one other first.
Fifty-eight folks have examined constructive for chook flu within the US this yr, together with two who had no identified publicity to contaminated animals, based on the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention.
There are additionally fears that some human instances are going undetected. Researchers mentioned final month that eight out of 115 dairy employees examined in Michigan and Colorado had antibodies for chook flu, suggesting an an infection price of seven %.
Particles of H5N1 chook flu virus.
Meg Schaeffer, an epidemiologist on the US-based SAS Institute, instructed AFP there have been now a number of components suggesting that “avian flu is knocking on our door and could start a new pandemic any day”.
“A bird flu pandemic would be one of the most foreseeable catastrophes in history,” learn the headline of a New York Instances opinion article late final month.
‘Easy step’ away
There are nonetheless a number of boundaries stopping H5N1 from spreading simply between folks, together with that the virus must mutate to turn into higher at infecting human lungs.
Virologist Ed Hutchinson of the College of Glasgow mentioned this means that H5N1 is simply “a simple step” away from turning into “more dangerous for us”.
And final month, genetic sequencing of a Canadian teenager who was very sick with chook flu “implied that the virus had begun to evolve to explore ways of binding more effectively to the cells in their body,” Hutchinson mentioned.
In March, chook flu began spreading amongst cows, marking a brand new section for the virus.
“We do not yet know whether H5N1 influenza viruses will evolve to become a disease of humans,” and different boundaries stay, Hutchinson emphasised.
However the extra animals and completely different species the virus is allowed to contaminate, the “more likely it is to adapt to better infect people,” Schaeffer mentioned.
And if a chook flu pandemic was to interrupt out, it will be “remarkably severe” in people as a result of now we have no built-up immunity, she added.
The US farm employee instances have been comparatively delicate thus far. However practically half of the 904 human instances of H5N1 recorded since 2003 have been deadly, based on the World Well being Group.
Uncooked milk: ‘horrible thought’
Tom Peacock, a virologist on the Imperial School London, instructed AFP there are a number of causes to be “less pessimistic about the possibility of a pandemic”.
Antiviral therapies and vaccines are already accessible for chook flu, marking a giant distinction from Covid-19 in 2020, he identified.
Well being consultants have warned folks in opposition to consuming uncooked milk, which has the potential to be contaminated with chook flu.
To keep away from the worst-case state of affairs, many well being researchers have known as on the US authorities to ramp up testing and guarantee data is shared between businesses and international locations.
On Friday, the US Division of Agriculture introduced plans to check the nation’s milk provide for chook flu.
Of specific concern is uncooked, or unpasteurized, milk, which has repeatedly been discovered to be contaminated with chook flu.
Vaccine skeptic and conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who’s US President-elect Donald Trump’s choose for well being secretary, is understood to be a fan of uncooked milk.
California uncooked milk producer Mark McAfee, whose merchandise have repeatedly been recalled as a result of chook flu, instructed The Guardian final week that Kennedy’s group had approached him to information the upcoming administration’s uncooked milk coverage.
Schaeffer mentioned that any suggestion of lifting restrictions on uncooked milk was “unequivocally a terrible idea and definitely jeopardizes the health of humans”.
© 2024 AFP
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‘Knocking on our door’: Specialists warn of chook flu’s pandemic risk (2024, December 11)
retrieved 11 December 2024
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