Avian Flu Infects Mammals for First Time in UK, Possible Virus Mutation Could Jump to Humans

According to experts, the Avian Flu, which is currently taking a toll on UK bird farms, has been transmitted for the first time from birds to mammals.

If there is a virus mutation in mammals, there is a chance that it will then spread to humans.

Avian Flu on Mammals

In addition to Powys in Wales, Shetland, the Inner Hebrides, and Fife in Scotland, cases have also been found in Durham, Cheshire, and Cornwall in England.

Accordingly, there's a remote possibility that the virus will spread to people.

More than 200 mammals, such as foxes and otters, have been shown to contract the illness, which has killed more than 200 million birds.

Despite the extremely low risk, public health officials have stated that it is still possible for the mammalian mutation to start infecting humans.

Further focused surveillance and testing of humans and animals exposed to the virus in Britain will therefore be conducted.

Up to 66 mammals, including seals, have been tested by the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA), and nine otters and foxes have tested positive for the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 strain.

Virus Mutation

The theory is that the animals that tested positive were fed dead or ill wild birds that had the avian flu.

There was no proof of the virus hopping from animals to mammals, even though it was discovered that the animals had a virus mutation that made it more likely to infect mammals.

According to the APHA, there is very little chance that GB mammals will become infected widely.

Professor Ian Brown, the APHA director of scientific services, said that the e virus is definitely moving and is doing so in a single strain.

There is a need to consider new strategies, like those international partnerships, to stop this disease and reduce the risk as a result of its global spread.

Avian Flu Spread and Infection

The disease can also spread to animals that consume wild bird droppings or that prey on infected birds.

But last month, after an outbreak in Spain raised the possibility that the flu could spread from one infected mammal to another mammal, experts issued a warning regarding the H5N1 strain of avian influenza.

An outbreak that started on January 19 in Eurosurveillance happened on a mink farm located in Carral in October 2022.

The animals were found to be infected with a new strain of H5N1 that originated in gulls, according to genetic sequencing.

Additionally, it has a genetic mutation that is thought to make some animal flu viruses more likely to be able to spread in mammals.

Virus Infecting Humans

A Harbin Veterinary Research Institute virologist in China named Hualan Chen issued a warning that the spread of the H5N1 strain among mammals may be more dangerous to the general public's health.

Since the start of the most recent outbreak in October 2021, the H5N1 strain has been implicated in one human death in the UK.

Four additional human fatalities have occurred, one of which occurred in China.

Over the past 20 years, 21 countries have reported 868 cases of avian influenza H5N1 virus in humans, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

. Up to 457 of these incidents ended in death. This suggests that a sizable portion of infected individuals die.

The national task force for avian flu in the UK is currently stepping up its monitoring of mammalian cases and virus genome analysis while closely monitoring the spread in wild bird populations around the world.

Also Read: Mysterious Death of 40 Vultures Around North Carolina Water Tower Prompts Speculations: Poison or Avian Flu? 

New Influenza Pandemic

Thijs Kuiken, an Erasmus University Medical Center Professor of viroscience in Rotterdam, has previously expressed concern that there is a slim possibility of a human spillover.

The impact, if it does occur, he claimed, is substantial because it would signal the start of another new pandemic of influenza.

The most recent data indicates that the avian influenza viruses that are currently affecting birds do not easily spread to humans, according to Dr. Meera Chand, the UKHSA incident director for avian influenza.

Everyone should continue to be on the lookout for any indications shifting risk, Chand added.

The HPAI virus typically disappeared during the early fall and summer months in previous years, but it persisted throughout the entire year in 2022.

One pandemic associated with avian influenza or originating in birds is the 1918 flu, which is estimated to have killed up to 50 million people, Express reported.

Related Article: Worst Avian Flu Outbreak of All Time Kills 50 Million Birds from 46 States, US