GENEVA, Switzerland – The World Health Organization (WHO) warned Wednesday that the surge in hen flu outbreaks amongst mammals might assist the virus unfold extra simply amongst people.
Since late 2021, Europe has been gripped by its worst-ever outbreak of hen flu, whereas North and South America have additionally skilled extreme outbreaks.
This has led to the culling of tens of tens of millions of poultry worldwide, many with the H5N1 pressure of the virus, which first emerged in 1996.
“Avian influenza viruses normally spread among birds, but the increasing number of H5N1 avian influenza detections among mammals — which are biologically closer to humans than birds are — raises concern that the virus might adapt to infect humans more easily,” the WHO mentioned in an announcement.
“In addition, some mammals may act as mixing vessels for influenza viruses, leading to the emergence of new viruses that could be more harmful to animals and humans.”
The present hen flu outbreaks have brought about “devastation” in animals, the UN well being company mentioned, together with poultry and wild birds, together with some mammals, and had harmed farmers’ livelihoods and the meals commerce.
“Although largely affecting animals, these outbreaks pose ongoing risks to humans,” it mentioned.
The WHO, together with the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH), urged nations to work collectively to avoid wasting animals and defend folks.
“There is a recent paradigm change in the ecology and epidemiology of avian influenza which has heightened global concern as the disease spread to new geographical regions and caused unusual wild bird die-offs, and alarming rise in mammalian cases,” mentioned WOAH science chief Gregorio Torres.
Human hen flu instances are normally the results of direct or oblique publicity to contaminated dwell or lifeless poultry or contaminated environments.
“The virus does not appear to be able to transmit from one person to another easily, but vigilance is needed to identify any evolution in the virus that can change that,” mentioned the WHO’s pandemic preparedness chief Sylvie Briand.
Experts have been searching for adjustments that might be extra harmful to people, and urged nations to spice up their monitoring capabilities, she added.
“This is especially important as the virus is now affecting countries with limited prior experience in avian-flu surveillance,” Briand mentioned. — Agence France-Presse
Source: www.gmanetwork.com
