Human Causes Of Bird Flu Pose a Major Concern: World Health Organization

(CTN News) – The World Health Organization expressed alarm Thursday about the rapid spread of the H5N1 bird flu to new species, including humans, who have an “extraordinarily high” mortality rate.

The UN health agency’s chief scientific officer, Jeremy Farrar, told reporters in Geneva, “I believe that this remains an enormous concern.”

The current outbreak of bird flu began in 2020 and has resulted in the death of tens of millions of poultry; wild birds and land and marine mammals have also been infected.

Last month, cows and goats were added to the list – a surprise to experts since they had been thought to be immune to this type of Bird Flu.

Farrar noted that A (H5N1) has become a global pandemic caused by zoonotic animals.

It is important to note that the greatest concern is that this virus has evolved and is now capable of infecting humans as well as critically being capable of moving from human to human, by infecting ducks and chickens and then increasingly mammals.”

As of yet, there is no evidence that the influenza virus A(H5N1) spreads between humans.
Farrar noted that the mortality rate for humans who have been infected by animals is exceptionally high in the hundreds of cases where they have been exposed to animals.

In the period from 2003 through April 1 of this year, the WHO reported 463 deaths from 889 cases across 23 countries. This was a 52 percent fatality rate.

Early this month, US authorities reported that a person in Texas was recovering from bird flu after being in contact with dairy cattle.

The case is the second human to test positive for bird flu in the country, following cases in Texas, Kansas and other states where herds were apparently exposed to wild birds.

Also, it appears to be the first human case of influenza A (H5N1) Bird Flu virus infection following contact with an infected mammal, according to the World Health Organization.

“When you get into the mammalian population, you are about to get close to humans,” Farrar warned, warning that “this virus is always looking for new, novel hosts.”

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