Bird flu can be deadly to humans.
The current strain of the disease – H5N1 – is of particular concern to the World Health Organisation as thre is an “extraordinarily high” mortality rate amongst humans because we have no natural immunity to it.
More Than One Pandemic
There was more than one pandemic which started in 2020.
The second pandemic, that of bird flu amongst both wild and domesticated birds, is still ongoing. The bird flu pandemic is global and tens of millions of poultry have died. No one knows how many wild birds have died.
Spread to Mammals
The deadly H5N1 strain has been discovered in mammals recently. Including some that were not previously thought to be susceptible to bird flu.
Cows and goats were amongst the new mammals affected, with cattle herds across six US states now infected with bird flu.
Worrying Trend
The transfer to new mammals is concerning because mammals form an infection bridge with humans.
Diseases which infect mammals can often move across to infect humans. With domestic cats among the species that can catch bird flu, fears are growing of the risk to humans.
Cluster in Colorado
Now, a cluster of human infections in Colorado is confirming fears.
Two Colorado poultry farms were implicated, with six workers infected at one farm, three at another.
Human to Human Infection
Crucially, there has not yet been any human-to-human infection.
This means that so far, the risk of another human pandemic is low. (But not zero).
None Died
None of the infected workers from the poultry farms in Colorado died.
Most reported only mild respiratory symptoms and pink eye. This doesn’t mean that vigilance about the disease should become lax, however.
World Health Organisation
Jeremy Farrar, the World Health Organisation’s chief scientist spoke to reporters in Geneva.
He said, “this virus is just looking for new, novel hosts”.
Vaccines in Development
There is already some work ongoing to try to develop a vaccine for bird flu in case it should grow amongst humans.
Jeremy Farrar also said that there was a need to ensure that countries around the world were able to diagnose the disease quickly.
CDC Deployed Team
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has deployed a team to support Colorado’s response to the outbreak amongst humans.
Further information and updates can be found on the CDC website. This will be updated as more information comes to light.
