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Where does this new strain of bird flu come from?
The warmer weather brings with it migratory birds who sometimes land with a few surprises in their luggage… “Birds often carry a combination of viral strains,” says Dr.r Jasmin Villeneuve, medical advisor at the National Institute of Public Health of Quebec (INSPQ). “Among those that mainly attack humans, there are the H1 and H3 strains, which generally circulate in winter. The H5N1 virus belongs to another category. Extremely contagious in poultry, some variants can kill 80% of the animals on a farm. It can also infect humans. Between 1996 and 2015, about half of the people who caught the H5N1 variant then circulating in Asia died from it. “The variant of H5N1 that we currently have in North America is the one that has been present in Europe since the fall of 2020. It is a little different from the one that we have seen in Asia and which was circulating before 2015”, specifies the Dr Villeneuve. In bird flu jargon, unlike COVID-19, the variants are called “clades” and have numbers rather than Greek letter names. The H5N1 virus currently circulating is therefore the “clade 2.3.4.4b”. “And the analyzes showed that this variant, quite different from the one we saw in Asia, causes infections in birds, but seems to cause fewer infections in humans. »
PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, ARCHIVES LA PRESSE
The first case of human infection was reported in Britain last December in a 79-year-old pensioner who raised ducks.
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How is bird flu transmitted to humans?
Cases of human infection with avian influenza reported in connection with the currently circulating strain concern people who have been in contact with birds. The first case was reported in Britain last December in a 79-year-old pensioner who raised ducks. At the end of April, US health authorities announced the first case of infection in a worker at a Colorado slaughterhouse. The infected person, whose only symptom of illness was fatigue, is already cured after being treated with an antiviral drug. “The infection rate is very low, but we are monitoring it,” says the Dr Villeneuve. “As with COVID-19, when a mutation appears and it becomes more contagious, we want to see it come before it spreads. Flu vaccines have been developed, but none specifically address the variants currently circulating. “As there are very, very few cases in humans, I don’t think the authorities’ priority is to develop a vaccine for that. To protect against the virus, experts recommend paying attention to disinfection in case of direct contact with the dead or the living. For the consumer of poultry or eggs, no worries: the contaminated farm products are destroyed, and if the chicken must be well cooked, it is because there is more to fear the salmonella bacterium than the virus of the flu.
PHOTO KARENE-ISABELLE JEAN-BAPTISTE, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Egg and poultry production, unlike pork production, is supply managed in Canada.
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A price increase to be expected?
If there is less poultry on the market because of the epizootic, should we expect an increase in the prices of eggs and chicken? Not necessarily. “The potential dangers associated with epizootics can influence prices,” explains Bruno Larue, professor in the agri-food economics department at Laval University. In 2014, an epidemic of diarrhea in American piggeries had propelled a rise in pork also in Canada – the price of pork in Quebec is adjusted to that of the United States. “Prices fell when the American authorities realized that the problem was not as serious as expected,” recalls Mr. Larue. In this case, the price of eggs in the United States could indeed be affected by the risks associated with avian flu. But egg and poultry production, unlike pork production, is under supply management in Canada. “Prices are set according to production costs. In this case, it is the cost of food that drives prices up. To find out if the price of eggs is increasing at the grocery store, it is better to look at what the hens are eating… “As the price of cereals has risen sharply in recent weeks (corn, wheat in particular), the price of eggs. »
PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, ARCHIVES LA PRESSE
Dr. Denis Archambault, professor of biology at the University of Quebec in Montreal (UQAM)
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Vaccinating chickens, a possible solution?
In Canada, chicks are vaccinated against several diseases, including Marek’s disease (caused by a carcinogenic virus). But no bird flu vaccine has yet been approved. “The difficulty, when you develop a vaccine in chickens, the costs have to be really minimal, a few cents per dose. Otherwise, it’s not worth it, ”explains biology professor Denis Archambault, from the University of Quebec in Montreal (UQAM). The latter has precisely worked on the development of a universal vaccine that would protect poultry against several strains of avian flu. Funding for his work, however, was interrupted before the pandemic, laments the researcher. In France, where health authorities have started testing a vaccine on ducks, it should not be possible to inoculate poultry on a large scale before the winter of 2023-2024.
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