Q&A: How worried should we be about bird flu?
On Wednesday the ECDC said the risk to people in Europe generally is still considered low, but the risk to people culling birds is low to medium. Anyone working with dead birds or their droppings is strongly advised to wear PPE. File Picture: PA
It is a highly contagious viral disease affecting the respiratory, digestive and/or nervous system of many species of birds. As we learned with covid-19, different strains of a virus can circulate, and a new strain is currently causing concern in Europe and elsewhere.
Bird flu, also known as H5N1 and avian influenza, can pose a threat to people and other animals, causing severe illness and sometimes death.
Between 2003 and February 2023, there were 873 human cases of infection with influenza A (H5N1) and 52% of these cases — or 458 people — died. Overall, cases were reported from 21 countries including Spain and the UK, the World Health Organisation said.
In Cambodia, a young girl died last month despite being admitted to hospital. However the scientist who took the lead on the sequencing of the viral samples said she did not have the same strain causing concern in Ireland and Europe.
Speaking to science journal this week Erik Karlsson, a virologist at the Pasteur Institute of Cambodia in Phnom Penh, said: “The virus belongs to clade 2.3.2.1c, which is an endemic strain in the region.”
However, he explained: “Everyone was quite concerned that the girl might have had the strain 2.3.4.4b, which is circulating around the world and causing major problems in Europe, North America and South America right now. 2.3.4.4b is a new viral clade, and we don’t know a lot about it.”
Investigations continue to find out how the 11-year-old was exposed to the virus. Her father was also ill but he has recovered.
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) also reported those Cambodian research findings, and confirmed the clade is different to that recently and widely circulating among birds in Europe.
They did report the European clade was “detected in two human samples from asymptomatic poultry farm workers in Spain in 2022”.
On Wednesday the ECDC said the risk to people in Europe generally is still considered low, but the risk to people culling birds is low to medium. Anyone working with dead birds or their droppings is strongly advised to wear PPE.
The ECDC said unprotected contact with infected birds is a central problem.
Yes although they have been infected in much lower numbers.
There are reports from around the world of infected grizzly bears and a bottlenose dolphin in America, mink in Spain, seals in Scotland, sea lions in Peru and a porpoise in Sweden.
However the British Health Security Agency in their latest update said: “While the very high levels of transmission in wild birds present a constant risk, there is no evidence so far that the virus is getting better at infecting humans or other mammals.”
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