SWITZERLAND — United Nations agencies, including the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH), have issued a warning about the recent surge in bird flu outbreaks among mammals.
They have expressed concerns that this could facilitate the virus’s transmission to humans more easily.
The agencies are urging countries to enhance disease surveillance and improve hygiene practices in poultry farms to prevent further spread.
Earlier this year, a new highly contagious strain of bird flu, known as H5N1, rapidly expanded to new geographical regions.
This strain exhibited a high infectivity rate among wild birds and also infected and caused fatalities in various mammal species. The emergence of this strain has raised fears of a potential pandemic among humans.
The UN agencies emphasized that although avian influenza viruses primarily spread among birds, the increasing number of H5N1 avian influenza cases detected in mammals, which are genetically closer to humans, is a cause for concern.
This trend suggests that the virus might adapt more readily to infect humans.
Human cases of bird flu typically result from direct or indirect exposure to infected live or dead poultry or contaminated environments.
While the number of reported human cases remains relatively low, with most being mild, the agencies are urging countries to enhance their ability to monitor these viruses and promptly detect any human cases.
The agencies also stressed the importance of sharing genetic data of viruses from both humans and animals in publicly accessible databases.
They recommended a range of measures to mitigate the spread of the virus, including implementing biosecurity measures in farms and poultry value chains, and maintaining good hygiene practices.
Other recommendations include swiftly detecting and reporting animal outbreaks, strengthening influenza surveillance in animals and humans, conducting thorough epidemiological and virological investigations, and fostering collaboration between the animal and human health sectors.
Notably, avian flu outbreaks have been reported in around 10 countries among both land and sea mammals since 2022.
Species affected include farmed mink in Spain, seals in the United States, and sea lions in Peru and Chile.
Additionally, cases have been observed in 26 species, and H5N1 was recently detected in cats in Poland.
The agencies expressed concern that these infected mammals could act as mixing vessels for influenza viruses, potentially leading to the emergence of more harmful strains that can affect both animals and humans.
To date, several mammal species have been identified as infected, including ferrets, minks, otters, European badgers, skunks, Virginia opossums, felines such as Amur leopards, Amur tigers, mountain lions, European polecats, lynxes, bobcats, and domestic cats.
Additionally, red foxes, coyotes, raccoons, raccoon dogs, South American bush dogs, American black bears, brown bears, and grizzly bears have also been reportedly infected.
The H5N1 avian influenza viruses of the goose/Guangdong lineage first emerged in 1996 and have been causing bird outbreaks ever since.
Devastating spread in birds
In recent years, the virus has spread to North America, Central America, and South America. In 2022 alone, 67 countries across five continents reported H5N1 outbreaks in poultry and wild birds to WOAH, resulting in the loss of more than 131 million domestic poultry due to death or culling.
In 2023, an additional 14 countries reported outbreaks as the disease continues to spread.
The WHO said that since 2020, a variant had led to an “unprecedented” number of deaths in wild birds and poultry in many countries in Africa, Asia, and Europe.
The virus spread to North America in 2021 and then to Central and South America in 2022.
These outbreaks have caused “devastation” in poultry and had harmed farmers’ livelihoods and the food trade, the WHO said.
“Several mass death events have been reported in wild birds,” the U.N. health agency added.
“Although largely affecting animals, these outbreaks pose ongoing risks to humans,” it said.
“The epidemiology of H5N1 continues to rapidly evolve,” said the FAO’s chief veterinary officer Keith Sumption.
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