Experts Raise Awareness Over Potential Bird Flu Pandemic, Says '100 Times Worse Than Covid'

Experts Raise Awareness Over Potential Bird Flu Pandemic: It has been warned that a bird flu pandemic could be '100 times worse than COVID-19' and possibly cause up to half of those infected to die.

H5N1 avian flu has spread rapidly, affecting wild birds across all states, as well as commercial poultry and backyard chickens.

In a statement to Daily Mail, Dr Suresh Kuchipudi, a bird flu researcher in Pittsburgh, said, "This is not a virus that is yet to spread, but rather one that is globally present, is already infecting mammals and is circulating... It is imperative that we prepare".

In the US, two cases of bird flu have been reported since 2022.

In the past decade, 52 out of 100 people with H5N1 bird flu died, totaling 462 deaths out of 887 cases. As compared to Covid, which has a death rate of less than 0.1 percent, at the beginning of the pandemic it was around 20 percent.

In several countries, the bird flu virus Type A H5N1 has spread among more animals, including dogs and cats, since 2020.

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Symptoms

Bird flu symptoms include cough, body aches, fever, and severe, life-threatening pneumonia.

First Case In Texas

There was an outbreak of avian flu at a poultry facility in Michigan and an egg producer in Texas this week, according to the latest development. Moreover, there have been reports of infected dairy cows and the first documented case of a human contracting bird flu from a mammal.

A dairy farm worker in Texas has been confirmed as having an H5N1 infection by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Bird flu pandemic could be ‘100 times worse’ than COVID, scientists warn https://t.co/9gg4Bwi2MH pic.twitter.com/v1Md3AhAC1

— New York Post (@nypost) April 4, 2024

Across five states - Idaho, Kansas, Michigan, New Mexico, and Texas - the virus has spread rapidly, affecting millions of land and sea animals.

There is mounting concern, partly due to the news of an outbreak reported by the largest producer of fresh eggs in the country, despite health officials saying that the risk to the public remains low.

Can Humans Be Affected With Bird Flu?

Media reports indicate that people who have close contact with wild birds or poultry have been infected with avian influenza.

Scientists are monitoring changes that might facilitate H5N1's spread among humans and spark a pandemic.

In the United States, vaccine components are already being tested, and candidate vaccine viruses have shown promise in protecting against H5N1.

With ongoing monitoring and efforts to keep the public informed and safe, both the CDC and the White House have stressed the severity of the situation.

Vigilance and coordinated global efforts are crucial to preventing a pandemic of H5N1 avian flu.

Pharmaceutical giants such as Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline are monitoring avian flu and are preparing vaccines as needed.

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