WHO warns that climate change is influencing the spread of bird flu

The H5N1 avian flu virus, with a high mortality rate in humans although with a limited contagion rate for now, is rapidly expanding to continents such as the American continent due to factors such as climate changehighlighted this Wednesday an expert from the World Health Organization (WHO).

“Climate change has impacted the routes of migratory birds, and this has played a role in the unprecedented spread of H5N1 in animals“, stressed at a press conference the head of the global flu prevention program of the WHO, Zhang Wenqing.

The expert stressed that the 2.3.4.4b variant of the virus “It emerged in 2020, crossed the Atlantic in 2021 to North America and in 2022 it arrived in South America”, with various outbreaks observed in recent years not only in birds, but also in mammals.

The recent detection of outbreaks of avian flu in cattle and goats in the United States, which has caused the first cow-to-man infection ever recorded on a farm, has increased the concern of the medical community about possible mutations of this virus, which according to the WHO has epidemic and pandemic potential.

The head of emerging diseases and zoonoses of the WHO, Maria Van Kerkhoveadded that since 2021 only 28 cases of avian flu have been detected in humans, but the increase in outbreaks in animals has led the health agency to maintain a global surveillance system for seven years, as well as development programs for possible vaccines.

“Although there is currently no transmission between humans, we are concerned about the virus, because we know that the flu has the potential to cause epidemics and pandemics, that is why we maintain the system”, remarked the person also responsible for the response of the WHO against covid-19.

Last week the WHO He stated that the H5N1 virus has also been found in the milk of cattle and goats infected by the outbreaks in the United States, which is why he insisted on maintaining food safety practices such as the exclusive consumption of pasteurized dairy products.

Faced with millions of birds infected and deceased in the last two decades by H5N1cases in humans remain rare (about 900 since 2003), although the high level of lethality that the disease currently has in humans is worrying, since more than half of the infections have been fatal for the patient.

The WHO recognizes a “exponential growth” since 2020 in the number of infections in birds, in addition to more and more mammals affected, including seals, minks, sea lions, foxes and since recent weeks also cattle and goats.

“Detection in dairy cattle does not change our risk assessment, but it is worrying that this epizootic (epidemic in animals) has occurred under our noses during the covid pandemic”, highlighted the expert.