World Health Organization warns ‘we must prepare’ for potential bird flu pandemic

The World Health Organization has warned the world must prepare for a potential human bird flu pandemic — after the strain jumped from birds to mammals.

Cases of the strain H5N1 have already been reported in otters, mink and foxes, sparking fears the virus is one step closer to sweeping into humans.

During a virtual briefing today, the WHO’s director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged nations to monitor infections in mammals closely.

He said the risk of the virus jumping to humans was still low, but we ‘cannot assume that will remain the case and we must prepare for any change in the status quo’.

It comes after the UK reported that its biggest-ever avian influenza outbreak had spilled over to mammals. There was also an outbreak among mink in North West Spain reported last month.

WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Gebreyesus warned today that the world needs to prepare for a human bird flu outbreak. He is pictured above at the WHO’s global health priorities in 2022

H5N1 has previously been detected in people, but cases have been sporadic and closely linked to close contact with infected dead or live birds.

The virus does not infect humans easily or other mammals.

But reports of infections in mammals have raised concerns that the pathogen could gain mutations that make it easier for the virus to jump to humans, helping it to clear the biggest hurdle that has stopped it from sweeping the world.

Leading experts previously warned that the spread of bird flu poses a global risk until it is brought under control.

The US has faced a major outbreak of bird flu this year, with more than 58million poultry affected across nearly every state in the country and 6,100 in wild birds — approaching record levels for the country.

Seven of the UK’s animal avian flu cases detected were in 2022, including one fox in Cheshire and two in Cornwall, as well as one otter in each of Shetland and the Isle of Skye and two in Fife. Pictured: European otter

Dr Brown said it was ‘difficult to control the disease in wild birds’ but ‘what we can do is effectively control the disease in poultry’ (stock image)

Experts have warned that outbreaks among mink could lead to a recombination event — when two viruses switch genetic material to make a new hybrid.

A similar process is thought to have caused the global 2009 swine flu crisis that infected millions across the planet.

The same biological phenomenon was also seen during the Covid pandemic, such as the so-called Deltacron — a recombination of Delta and Omicron, first detected in France last February.

For decades, scientists have warned that bird flu is the most likely contender for triggering the next pandemic.

This could see a deadly strain of bird flu merge with a transmissible seasonal flu.

The mink outbreak occurred on a farm in Galicia, north-west Spain, in October which housed 52,000 of the animals.

It was only spotted after a sudden surge in the animals dying. Up to four percent died in one week during the course of the outbreak, which was declared over by mid-November.

Farm vets swabbed the minks and the samples were analyzed at a Government lab, where they tested positive for H5N1.

Read Related Also: Almost a decade later, doc spotlights controversial Denver shooting

It led to all of the animals being culled, farm workers isolating for 10 days and heightened security measures in farms across the country.

These included wearing face masks and disposable overalls and showering before leaving the premises.

Analysis of samples taken, which were published last month in the infectious disease journal Eurosurveillance, show the virus had gained nearly a dozen mutations — most of which had never or rarely been seen before in bird flu strains.

One was previously seen in the virus behind the 2009 global swine flu pandemic.

In the UK, a December report showed four samples from the infected otters and foxes ‘show the presence of a mutation which is associated with potential advantages for mammalian infection’.

The UKHSA warned that the ‘rapid and consistent acquisition of the mutation in mammals may imply this virus has a propensity to cause zoonotic infections’ — meaning it could potentially spread to humans.