world

Consultants from the World Well being Group (WHO) requested to be alert to potential new instances of avian flu following the primary demise from the H5N2 variant was confirmed in Mexico, though they pressured that the danger of contagion in people stays low for now.

“Latest infections in people point out that we should strengthen surveillance and monitor the evolution of those viruses,” mentioned Ian Brown, president of the community of influenza specialists coordinated by the World Group for Animal Well being (WHO) and the Group of the United Nations for Meals and Agriculture (FAO).

Up to now this yr, 11 instances of avian influenza have been reported to the WHO, together with three of H5N1 related to cattle in the US, which have elevated concern in well being networks as a result of rising adaptation of the virus to mammals and its potential mutation. to have the ability to transmit it between them, and never solely from birds.

“The dominant subtype for now’s H5N1, which has been ‘profitable’ in sustaining its unfold amongst birds, for now they’re its very best transmission automobile though there are occasional infections to mammals,” Brown recalled.

The infections in cattle recorded to date this yr “inform us to not take as a right the existence of limits to which this virus might not attain,” he added.

Man died in Mexico

The case reported in Mexico on Wednesday, a 59-year-old man who died on April 24 and whose reason for an infection has not but been decided, is the primary reported on the planet of H5N2 in people, following twenty years of in depth monitoring. to the H5N1 subtype, with nearly 900 individuals contaminated, greater than half of whom died.

«Mexico is a rustic that has suffered for years from avian influenza (in birds), with outbreaks of H5N2 circulating primarily in home birds, with some occasional detection in wild birds. For now we’d like extra knowledge to succeed in new conclusions,” Brown pressured.

For her half, the pinnacle of the WHO technical unit for influenza prevention, Aspen Hammond, added that two of the H5N1 instances detected in the US confirmed conjunctivitis among the many signs, and recalled that to date this yr There have additionally been three instances of H5N6.

US authorities have detected instances in animals on 81 farms in 9 states within the nation to date this yr.

Chicken flu subtypes flow into on all continents

In response to Brown, hen flu subtypes are at the moment circulating on all continents of the planet, together with Antarctica, with the only exception of Oceania, and final month alone 22 outbreaks have been reported that prompted demise and compelled the sacrifice of three.5 million. hen’s.

“There have been vital modifications within the virus within the final two or three years, affecting a a lot bigger vary of untamed species,” added the skilled, who pressured that the pathogen has been detected in round 300 species, together with some that might run hazard of extinction as a result of illness, given its small variety of specimens.

Relating to vaccination, specialists pressured that an enough sort of immunization has not but been developed for all affected species, and identified that for now no nation has launched inoculation campaigns for employees on poultry farms or different potential danger teams, though some like Finland or the US are contemplating it.

*With data from EFE*