WHO warns that transmission of bird flu to humans is a ‘huge concern’

1970-01-01 00:00:00

The World Health Organization (WHO) expressed this Thursday “huge concern” about the increasing spread of the H5N1 strain of bird flu to other species, including humans.

“This remains, I believe, a huge concern,” Jeremy Farrar, scientific director of the UN health agency, told a news conference in Geneva.

The main concern is that the H5N1 virus, which has “an extraordinarily high mortality rate” among people infected through contact with animals, is adapting for human-to-human transmission.