A new outbreak of human bird flu has emerged in Cambodia, which raises fears that a new pandemic similar to COVID-19 is on the horizon. The father of an 11-year-old girl who died of bird flu this week he also tested positive for the strain H5N1. Eleven more people are being tested for the virus, four of whom have symptoms

It is not yet clear whether the father got the virus from his daughter or whether they were both exposed to the same reservoir, possibly an infected bird. But it could be the first example of person-to-person spread since the outbreak in Hong Kong in the late 1990s.

However, that epidemic has disappeared, and even if the virus starts to spread again among people, does not necessarily mean that it will cause an epidemic in humans.

There is also the question of how effective the H5N1 strain really is. It kills about half of the people it infects, greatly limiting the extent of its spread.

What is H5N1?

H5N1 is a highly contagious strain of influenza that causes severe respiratory disease in birds and humans. It is highly contagious between birds and poultry and has a mortality rate close to 100 percent. There have been fewer than 1,000 human cases, but it has killed about 53% of those diagnosed with the disease.

The H5N1 strain was first detected in Scotland in 1959.but this outbreak was confined to chickens.

The virus was first discovered in humans in 1997 in Hong Kong.and is believed to be obtained from chickens in a live bird market, commonly known as a “wet market”, where live and dead animals are often kept in squalid conditions and slaughtered to order.

The Wet markets are also linked to the origin of covidand the first cluster of cases in 2019 can be traced back to a small radius near Huanan Seafood Market in Wuhan. Only one case of human bird flu has been reported in the United States, which happened last year in April. The patient’s only symptom was fatigue for several days. They were treated with the antiviral flu drug oseltamivir and made a full recovery.

Infected birds can transmit the H5N1 virus to other birds through their saliva, nasal secretions and feces. They can also be infected by contact with surfaces that are contaminated with the virus. Bird flu infections among humans are rare, but can occur when enough virus gets into someone’s eyes, nose, or mouth, or is inhaled.

People with close or prolonged unprotected contact (not wearing eye or respiratory protection) with infected birds or places where sick birds or their mucus, saliva or droppings are contaminated may be at increased risk of avian influenza virus infection.

It is unlikely that a person could contract the virus if he eats poultry and feathered game because it is sensitive to heat. This means that the meat will not contain the virus as long as it is properly cooked. Symptoms in humans include high fever, cough, sore throat, muscle aches and a general feeling of weakness. Additional early symptoms may include abdominal and chest pain and diarrhea.

It can quickly develop into a serious respiratory illness, including difficulty breathing and pneumonia. People may also experience altered mental status or seizures.

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Should I be worried?

Yes and no.

Fears have grown over the past year as the strain has wiped out the world’s domestic bird and poultry populations.

More than 15 million animals were killed and killed by the virus itselfwhile governments collectively sacrificed more than 200 million worldwide to slow the spread of the virus, including 58 million in the US alone.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has described the situation in Cambodia as “alarming”, in a significant shift in rhetoric. Earlier this month the World Health Agency assessed the risk of bird flu to humans as “low”. But WHO says so you can reconsider that status based on the latest update.

dr. Sylvie Briand, WHO director for epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention, told reporters at a virtual briefing that the agency is reviewing its global risk assessment in light of recent events. She said: “The global situation with H5N1 is worrying given the widespread spread of the virus among birds worldwide and the increasing number of reports of cases in mammals, including humans.”

Bird flu not only spreads more easily and quickly among bird populations, but concerns have grown in recent weeks when it emerged that the virus has also begun infecting mammals, including martens, sea lions and foxes.

Two weeks ago, an article published in the journal Eurosurveillance said that the virus found in the Spanish marten carried a mutation in the PB2 gene, not unlike the mutation found when bird flu reached pigs more than a decade ago.

The more the virus spreads among different animals, the more opportunities it has to mutate.meaning that recent transmission between species is worrisome and could be a warning sign of a more significant mutation.

But even a possible outbreak in Cambodia is unlikely to become an epidemic. So far, only eight human cases have been detected in this outbreak, and all have been linked to close contact with infected birds. Nothing can be done to prevent the spread among wild birds, but officials are working to contain domesticated populations.

Before the recent cases from Cambodia, there were only about 870 of them worldwide. In 1997, authorities confirmed 18 cases of H5N1 in Hong Kong, some of which were contracted through person-to-person transmission. However, the outbreak died down after killing more than 1.5 million chickens in the area and did not become a significant local or global problem.

The bird flu virus has a harder time spreading between people because the death rate is so high and the infection can kill very quickly, meaning people die before they have a chance to transmit it. Covid has a much lower death rate: it currently kills one percent of cases in the US, and at its peak killed six percent in March 2020.

However, the asymptomatic nature of Covid meant that it could spread much more easily as people could transmit it without even realizing they had it.

Cambodia has become a tourist trap in recent years with groups of Americans traveling to Southeast Asia for annual vacations. A quarter of a million Americans visit Cambodia each year, as do around 160,000 Britons. It is estimated that more than 100,000 expatriates now live in Cambodia, and about 2,500 are believed to be Americans.

Professor Francois Balloux tweeted today that bird flu is a “serious concern”. But he said that while there is human-to-human transmission, it is not happening any more now than it used to, and “the most likely scenario for H5N1 is that nothing is happening right now.”

Is it the new Covid?

The short answer is no…not yet.

With some limited exceptions, the virus has never been transmitted to humans on a large enough scale to cause an outbreak. Influenza viruses are constantly mutating. In birds, H5N1 has split into more than 30 genetic variants and caused widespread death in bird populations as well as the mammals that feed on the birds.

Scientists have yet to find evidence that different variants are transmitted between mammals.

Is there a vaccine or treatment?

Animal vaccines for bird flu exist, but are not widely used on poultry farms because the ability to control disease outbreaks is reduced. Except, vaccinated birds can still get the disease and transmit it.

There are currently no vaccines developed for human bird flu, but that is only because there is no need yet. To make an effective vaccine in humans, scientists they would need to know the specific variant that causes it to spread in humans in order to adjust the treatment.

The WHO has sent samples of the H5N1 virus to vaccine manufacturers, but mass production will not happen until they know the strain. However, there are some antiviral drugs that can treat severe flu, such as oseltamivir.

Hopefully it will work against any pandemic bird flu virus, but viruses can become resistant.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told the DailyMail that they “worked closely with the Cambodian Ministry of Health and other public health partners during their investigations into these two human cases” in Cambodia.