GENEVA (EFE).— The rapid spread of bird flu in recent years has raised fears that this virus could become the next global pandemic, although the head of influenza prevention at the Health Organization of the World (WHO) emphasizes an interview with EFE that is in the world. better prepared than before Covid-19 and there could even be vaccines in less than half a year.
“It took three to four months from the start of the pandemic until the first doses were available on the market,” said Zhang Wenqing, who has led the WHO’s global influenza prevention program for 12 years.
He clarified that it is no longer possible to prepare these vaccines, since they must be based on the latest version of the virus, the one that causes a pandemic.
It is certain that its genetic makeup would be different from that currently circulating in nature, especially in migratory birds and increasingly in mammals such as seals, mink, sea lions, foxes and more recently also domesticated species such as dogs and cats.
“Countries like the United States stockpile vaccines based on older versions of the H5N1 virus (which causes bird flu) that may be used first, as first doses to buy time until some other with updated content and based on developing new versions. ” noted.
Last April, the first known infection of this disease from a mammal to a person (a dairy farm worker in Texas) and the fact that the virus was found in the milk of infected cows raised concern, although the WHO for now holds in under the threat of collapse. from H5N1.
“As of 2021, 28 cases have been reported in humans, of which 13 are of type 2.3.4.4B,” Zhang recalled. Among these 13 cases, two have been confirmed in Spain, one in Chile and another in Ecuador.
Since the first cases in humans were recorded 20 years ago, about 900 diseases have been diagnosed and in more than half of them the patient died, although the expert asked to take into account the possibility that only the most serious cases were found, which They needed a hospital.
Another possible explanation for so many deaths is that “for now it is an animal virus that tends to bind to human receptors in the lower part of the respiratory system (lungs), which is why it usually causes severe forms of the disease such as pneumonia. .”
In general, the expert emphasizes, the world would be relatively ready for a bird flu to come to a hypothetical level to humans, a species to which the H5N1 virus, she said, is trying to change .
“The virus is taking more pressure, trying to jump the gender barrier and establish itself among the human population. Every time it affects a person it is an effort,” Zhang said.
The epidemiologist recommended that people at risk of bird flu, such as farm workers, get vaccinated against the common seasonal flu.
Although this would not in principle protect against the first of these diseases, it would reduce the risk of the two viruses coexisting in the same human organism, creating a breeding ground for dangerous mutations in the future.
The spread of the bird flu virus to the Americas and to different species of mammals occurred in a few years (from 2020 to 2022) in which the warning for flu pathogens was reduced on the planet, first because of the mandatory attention to Covid but also because of the prevention measures that reduced the spread of the common seasonal flu.
Despite this, Zhang said, the world is better prepared for eventual pandemics such as those caused by bird flu thanks to the experiences provided by Covid-19, as well as new tools such as messenger RNA vaccines created to fight the coronavirus. , and which he thought might have been adapted against the flu virus.
2024-05-04 08:00:00
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