Experts have warned that the world is "nowhere near ready" for another pandemic amid the increasing fears of the unprecedented wave of bird flu outbreaks sweeping across the planet. As per MailOnline, cases of the deadly H5N1 bird flu strain have already jumped from birds to humans.
Due to that, it sparked huge concern among top virologists that the virus is just one step closer to spreading in humans. They say that the situation is transforming a bit fast on a global scale. Some have even questioned whether the world has learned its lesson from the COVID-19 pandemic and if the necessary surveillance structures are in place.
Concerning Bird Flu Outbreak Around the World
USA Today reports that health officials continue to track and control one of the world's greatest bird flu outbreaks as it spreads to mammals, including people. Although human infections are still rare, health experts believe it just takes one ideal combination of mutations for the virus to spread throughout the human population.
Dr. Jay Varma, head of Cornell University's Center for Pandemic Prevention and Response, said that there is a lot of ambiguity about what is going on with the current bird flu outbreak and what is going to happen in the future.
According to the World Health Organization, the strain causing the widespread disease outbreak is the A (H5N1) 2.3.4.4b viruses that arose in 2020 and have spread via migratory birds to Asia, Africa, and Europe. The in late 2021, the H5N1 strain crossed to North America where the US Department of Agriculture reported over 58 million chickens across 47 states being affected.
Moreover, the department also reported 6,200 wild birds being infected, including ducks, eagles, geese, and hawks. The current number implies that the bird flu disease outbreak is spreading easily among different bird species and so many of them reportedly died due to the virus.
Furthermore, health experts are concerned about how the virus is affecting mammals, like skunks, foxes, raccoons, bears, mountain lions, and dolphins. Most mammal cases appear to be individual cases where they got infected from eating an infected bird.
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Mammalian Transmission: How Does Bird Flu Infect Humans?
The WHO has reported six human infections of the circulating bird flu strains in China, Spain, the UK, the US, and Vietnam as of December 2022. The four cases in the US and Europe were asymptomatic or mild with symptoms of fatigue. Meanwhile, the case in Vietnam developed a severe disease but recovered, and the patient in China died.
Dr. Hana El Sahly from Baylor College of Medicine said that the virus is difficult to transmit between people and most cases were of those who have direct or close contact with birds.
In terms of whether bird flu might become the next pandemic, experts said that the mutated genes that seem to be linked to mammalian adaptation do not appear to promote extensive animal transmission. However, that does not rule out the possibility because the more the virus spreads, the more chances it has to evolve and adapt.
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