EU agencies track bird flu virus variants on increasing threat to humans

Audio By Carbonatix

Enlarge

(Reuters) – Two European regulators said on Wednesday they were tracking variants of the bird flu virus due to the threat of the pathogen adapting to spread between humans and triggering future pandemics.

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the European Food Safety Authority also issued recommendations drawing on genetic analyses and human case studies to outline current risks from the virus.

CONTEXT

Bird flu, or avian influenza, has killed hundreds of millions of birds around the globe in recent years and has increasingly spread to mammals, raising concerns it may lead to human-to-human transmission.

Earlier this week, the United States reported its first outbreak of H5N9 bird flu in poultry on a duck farm in California. The strain that has caused most damage in recent years has been H5N1. H5N9 is rarer.

WHY IT’S IMPORTANT

ECDC said its experts identified 34 genetic mutations that might increase the potential of avian influenza viruses spreading to humans.

The agencies said animal and public health laboratories can refer to the list of mutations, which should be continuously updated, to monitor the emergence of strains that could potentially transmit to humans.

Genetic mutations, or the mixing of genetic material between viruses, as well as human activities such as urbanisation amplify the risk of virus transmission from animals to humans, the European agencies said.

WHAT’S NEXT

The health and food safety authorities recommend the monitoring of both animals and humans that may be infected, along with vaccination of poultry and increased awareness to control the outbreak.

(Reporting by Christy Santhosh in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath)