- The A/H5N1 pathogen especially affects domestic and wild birds; however, in the face of some cases in humans, the health authorities have called for greater surveillance, detection, and prevention of this outbreak.
- This subvariant was first identified in 1996 and has since spread throughout the world.
- In Mexico, avian influenza has affected almost 6 million domestic and wild birds in 13 states, which have been culled.
Currently, the pandemic of bird flu deadliest in history and that is why now one of the concerns is to know if the human is at risk. First of all, it should be mentioned that the person responsible is the A/H5N1 subvariant of a highly dangerous virus. It was first detected in 1996 and has since spread to North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and other regions of the world.
Now, although the pathogen has been active for more than 25 years, it has been in recent months when it has caused thousands of deaths and millions of animals euthanized. Although in reality its true potential is still not known with certainty.
About this topic, the Dr. Alessandro Gadotti, who is CEO of Cellvera, indicates that so far the A/H5N1 virus has only caused infections in chickens, turkeys and other poultry. The key question is whether zoonotic, and person-to-person transmissions and mutations can make it the next great human pandemic.
He adds that historically there have been some cases in mammals and, during the first months of 2023, infections were reported in some people from Ecuador, China and Cambodia; however, like many other potentially epidemic viruses, the recommendation is surveillance, detection, prevention and, even more important, the preparation of the health structure.
What is A/H5N1?
The avian influenza A (HPAI-A) it has been known for more than a century and throughout the 20th century outbreaks of important variants occurred in several countries. One of them is the influenza A/H5N1 subtype, a highly pathogenic virus capable of causing 60% mortality in affected humans, that is, 20 times more than SARS-CoV-2.
Fortunately, sustained human-to-human transmission, which limits zoonotic spread, has not been detected so far. As of May 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported 861 human cases, with 455 deaths, stemming from more than 200 outbreaks since 1998.
The real danger identified by health organizations is that the A/H5N1 is also a highly mutating viruswhich opens the possibility for future mutations to evolve in massive person-to-person transmission.
How has avian flu evolved in Mexico?
The A/H5N1 strain was detected in Mexico in October 2022, in a hawk trained to hunt smaller birds from Metepec, State of Mexico, which died from complications of the disease. Since then, the bird flu It has already affected almost 6 million domestic and wild birds in 13 states, which have been slaughtered, according to information from the National Agrifood Health, Safety and Quality Service (Senasica).
However, no human cases of avian influenza A/H5N1 in Mexico. However, the WHO called for promoting the surveillance and monitoring of people at risk, that is, those directly or indirectly exposed to infected birds -domestic, wild or in captivity-, as well as encouraging the use of personal protective equipment. and make early notifications to medical personnel.
What to do to protect ourselves from A/H5N1?
Recommendations include avoiding direct contact with wild birds, even if they do not appear sick, avoiding unprotected contact with domestic birds that appear to be sick or dead, and not touching surfaces that could be contaminated with saliva, mucus, or feces from wild birds. or domestic. Also, it’s key to avoid eating raw or undercooked poultry and poultry products, including raw eggs.
Likewise, the population and health professionals must have access to antiviral medicines and solutions approved for the treatment of seasonal influenza, including variants such as A/H5N1.
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