Experts expressed apprehension that the virus could also be approaching a vital threshold that might spark a world epidemic. (Reuters file picture)
The latest improvement comes after a poultry facility in Michigan and an egg producer in Texas within the US reported outbreaks of avian flu this week
Experts have raised alarm over the potential risk of a chicken flu pandemic, warning that it might be ‘100 times worse than Covid’ and probably result in fatalities in as much as half of these contaminated.
The issues have been raised throughout a recent briefing the place researchers mentioned on the H5N1 pressure of chicken flu. They expressed apprehension that the virus could also be approaching a vital threshold that might spark a world pandemic, in accordance with a report by UK-based tabloid Daily Mail.
During the briefing, Dr. Suresh Kuchipudi, a outstanding chicken flu researcher in Pittsburgh, warned that H5N1 has the potential to trigger a pandemic, given its means to contaminate a spread of mammalian hosts, together with people, stating, “we are getting dangerously close to this virus potentially causing a pandemic.”
‘We are not really talking about a virus that is yet to make a jump, we are talking about a virus that is globally present, already infecting a range of mammals and is circulating… It is really high time that we are prepared,” he added.
John Fulton, a pharmaceutical industry consultant and founder of Canada-based pharmaceutical company BioNiagara, echoed these concerns, emphasising the severity of a potential H5N1 pandemic and suggesting it could be far deadlier than Covid-19.
“This appears to be 100 times worse than Covid, or it could be if it mutates and maintains its high case fatality rate. Once it’s mutated to contaminate people, we will solely hope that the [fatality rate] drops,” Fulton acknowledged.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 52 out of each 100 individuals recognized with H5N1 chicken flu have died since 2003, with a complete of 462 deaths out of 887 circumstances. In distinction, the present fatality fee for Covid is lower than 0.1 %. However, at first of the pandemic, it was round 20 %.
First Case of Human Infection From Mammal
The latest improvement comes after a poultry facility in Michigan and an egg producer in Texas within the US reported outbreaks of avian flu this week. Additionally, stories have surfaced of contaminated dairy cows and the primary documented case of a human contracting chicken flu from a mammal.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed an H5N1 an infection in a dairy farm employee in Texas, prompting the White House to provoke ‘close monitoring’.
This marks the primary occasion of a person contracting chicken flu from dairy cattle, contrasting with a earlier case in Colorado in 2022, the place an individual examined constructive for chicken flu after direct publicity to poultry and subsequent chicken culling.
The virus has quickly unfold amongst dairy herds in 5 states throughout the nation — Idaho, Kansas, Michigan, New Mexico, and Texas — affecting tens of millions of animals on each land and sea.
Although US well being officers stated that the danger to the general public stays low, there may be mounting concern, partially as a consequence of information of an outbreak reported by the biggest producer of recent eggs within the nation.
What is H5N1?
According to a report by Live Science, H5N1 is a subtype of avian influenza A, a gaggle of associated chicken flu viruses. It’s thought of extremely pathogenic as a result of it causes extreme and sometimes deadly sickness in poultry. While it primarily impacts birds, H5N1 may also infect wild birds and infrequently mammals, together with people. In non-bird species, the illness could be deadly, however some circumstances could also be delicate or present no signs.
The first detection of the H5N1 virus was reported in birds in China in 1996. A yr later, an outbreak occurred in Hong Kong, leading to 18 human circumstances and 6 deaths from direct bird-to-human transmission.
(With inputs from businesses)
