2024-05-10 14:31:40
Bird flu is raging worldwide. There are now increasing reports that the virus has reached humans. Is there a threat of a new pandemic?
Bird flu has long since spread to other species on a large scale. Migratory birds have spread the highly infectious virus worldwide and not only introduced it into poultry houses. Minks, penguins, foxes and cats, among others, have already been infected. Experts are particularly concerned about the spread to mammals. Some are already warning that the same mistakes as at the beginning of the corona pandemic are being repeated.
How is the situation?
In the USA, it was confirmed for the first time in March that the H5N1 pathogen of clade (variant) 2.3.4.4b was detected in dairy cows. The case of a farm worker who tested positive for the virus at the end of March remains alarming. The virus thus jumped the species barrier to humans. It is the second case ever to occur in the United States. Almost 30 infections with this variant have been reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) worldwide since 2021.
As the news channel “CNN” reports, citing Texas researchers, a dairy worker sought medical attention in late March after he developed painful red, swollen, weeping eyes with ruptured blood vessels. However, he did not have a fever and his lungs were clear, according to the study published by the scientists.
Viruses swarmed in the eyes, not the lungs
But the doctors found something different: the patient’s eyes were full of H5N1 viruses, but the pathogen was barely detectable in his lungs. That could indicate that the worker became infected through his eyes – either from rubbing with contaminated hands or from splashes of contaminated milk – rather than his lungs. Apparently the viruses haven’t gotten there yet.
The man was treated with antiviral medication and recovered without any lasting problems. His close family members received the medication as a precaution.
Virus had been circulating for months
Researchers have now found out about the history of the virus outbreak: The virus has been circulating in American dairy farms since at least November 2023, meaning it was not discovered for months. The U.S. Department of Agriculture officially confirmed the presence of the H5N1 virus in dairy cows in Texas on March 25. Since then, at least three dozen infected herds have been reported in nine states, reports CNN. The cause is suspected to be a so-called spillover, the virus jumping from wild birds to cows.
Among other things, the US Department of Agriculture ordered that only dairy cows with a negative bird flu test could be transported from one US state to another. Experts see this as insufficient.
“This is a drop in the ocean,” Mike Worobey from the University of Arizona told Science magazine. This limitation is comparable to that of air traffic during Covid times, “long after the viruses have established themselves in a certain place.” It could simply be too late.
Virus detection in milk
The infection could already be much more widespread than previously thought. Because: The virus was detected unusually often in milk tests in retail stores. Although the virus does not appear to be active in the samples of pasteurized milk products and therefore not pathogenic, consumption of raw milk is strongly discouraged.
The new virus outbreak brings back dark memories. The coronavirus also apparently jumped several species before the first reported deaths occurred in early 2020. At this point, the virus was already much more widespread within China than expected or reported by the authorities.
Can H5N1 cause a new pandemic?
The WHO spoke out in mid-April. Your lead scientist Dr. Jeremy Farrar expressed concern that the bird flu virus has an “extremely high” mortality rate among those infected around the world. It is crucially important whether transmission can take place from person to person.
Evolutionary biologist Michael Worobey also warns: “We are in uncharted territory here, as an H5N1 virus adapted to mammals is spreading for the first time in land mammals with which hundreds of thousands of people come into contact every day,” he says, referring to the situation in the USA. The next pandemic virus will come from a situation very similar to this one.
Jerome Adams also sees a similar situation to that at the beginning of the corona pandemic. He headed the public health service in the USA until 2021. He told Business Insider: “If it continues to spread in animals, at some point it will cause problems for humans, either because we don’t have food, because they have to start wiping out herds, or because there is a big one in humans jump.” And he warns: “The more it replicates, the greater the chance it has of mutating.”