The World Health Organization (WHO) expressed this Thursday its “great concern” about the growing spread of the H5N1 strain of bird flu to other species, including humans.
“This remains, I think, a major concern,” Jeremy Farrar, scientific director of the UN health agency, said at a news conference in Geneva.
The main concern is that the H5N1 virus, which has “an extraordinarily high mortality rate” in people infected through contact with animals, is adapting to transmit between humans.
Between early 2023 and April 1, 2024, the WHO reported 889 human cases of bird flu in 23 countries, of which 463 died, representing a mortality rate of 52%.
There are currently no recorded cases of H5N1 transmission between humans. According to the WHO scientist, the A (H5N1) strain has become “a global animal zoonotic pandemic.”
“The great concern”
For Farrar, “the big concern” is that by “infecting ducks and chickens and increasingly more mammals, this virus will evolve” and then develop “the ability to pass from human to human.”
One case that caused concern was the announcement in early April of the detection of a case of avian flu in a person who was infected by a dairy cow in Texas, United States.
When “it gets into the mammal population, then it’s getting closer to humans,” Farrar said. “It’s really worrying.”
The director of the UN scientific division called for strengthening surveillance and registration and explained that “it is very important” to know how many human infections occur, since he indicated that this is where an adaptation of the virus can occur.
#Transmission #avian #flu #great #concern #Diario #Página
