PARIS, Nov 27 (Reuters) – The chicken flu virus that has been spreading amongst wild birds, poultry and mammals might result in a pandemic worse than COVID-19 if it mutates to transmit between people, the top of France’s Institut Pasteur respiratory infections centre stated.
The extremely pathogenic avian influenza, generally known as chicken flu, has led to the culling of a whole lot of hundreds of thousands of birds previously few years, disrupting meals provides and driving up costs, although human infections stay uncommon.
“What we fear is the virus adapting to mammals, and particularly to humans, becoming capable of human-to-human transmission, and that virus would be a pandemic virus,” Marie-Anne Rameix-Welti, medical director on the Institut Pasteur’s respiratory infections centre, informed Reuters.
The Institut Pasteur was among the many first European labs to develop and share COVID-19 detection exams, making protocols obtainable to the World Health Group and labs worldwide.
NO ANTIBODIES AGAINST H5 BIRD FLU
Individuals have antibodies towards frequent H1 and H3 seasonal flu, however none towards the H5 chicken flu affecting birds and mammals, like that they had none towards COVID-19, she stated.
And in contrast to COVID-19, which primarily impacts susceptible individuals, flu viruses also can kill wholesome people, together with youngsters, Rameix-Welti stated.
“A bird flu pandemic would probably be quite severe, potentially even more severe than the pandemic we experienced,” she stated in her Paris laboratory.
There have been many instances of individuals contaminated by H5 chicken flu viruses previously, together with the H5N1 at the moment circulating amongst poultry and dairy cows within the U.S., however these have been usually in shut contact with contaminated animals.
A primary-ever human case of H5N5 appeared within the U.S. state of Washington this month. The person, who had underlying circumstances, died final week.
In its newest report on chicken flu, the WHO stated there had been practically 1,000 outbreaks in people between 2003 and 2025 ― primarily in Egypt, Indonesia and Vietnam, of which 48% had died.
HUMAN PANDEMIC RISK STILL LOW
Nevertheless, the danger of a human pandemic creating stays low, Gregorio Torres, head of the Science Division on the World Organisation for Animal Health, informed Reuters.
“We need to be prepared to respond early enough. But for the time being, you can happily walk in the forest, eat chicken and eggs and enjoy your life. The pandemic risk is a possibility. But in terms of probability, it’s still very low,” he stated.
Rameix-Welti additionally stated that if chicken flu was to mutate to have the ability to be transmitted between people, the world was higher ready than it was earlier than the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The positive point with flu, compared to COVID, is we have specific preventative measures in place. We have vaccine candidates ready and know how to manufacture a vaccine quickly,” she stated.
“We also have stocks of specific antivirals, that, in principle, would be effective against this avian influenza virus,” she added.
