According to local sources, an outbreak of H5N1 avian influenza is currently being reported in Denmark, Europe and many countries around the world.
Because of the outbreak of the virus, millions of wild birds died and thousands of poultry farms were destroyed. Dead mammals were found almost all over the world, and the cause of their death was found to be infection with the H5N1 virus. But what is new in this matter this time is that the infection spread from mammals to mammals, which is happening for the first time.
Concerns about the possibility of the virus spreading from person to person
This is precisely what worries both foreign and Danish experts: whether the virus – which is usually much more deadly than the coronavirus – could mutate and become infectious between humans.
The reason for this is a new development in one specific place with one specific class of animals (i.e., its transfer from one mammal to another and not from birds to mammals), and therefore researchers around the world and the World Health Organization (WHO) are now focusing intensely on the mink farm in Spain.
What is H5N1 avian influenza?
- It is a disease caused by infection with the H5N1 virus and causes severe illness.
- Highly pathogenic avian influenza is a term used to refer to influenza viruses that cause high rates of illness and often death in domestic birds. This means, by definition, according to Lone Simonsen, an epidemiologist at Roskilde University in Denmark, that all the domestic birds in the cage will die if the virus enters through the door; the animals become ill and often die within a few days. There is also low pathogenic avian influenza.
The new variant is spreading more widely
On a farm in Spain in October, a highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza virus infection emerged among mammals, with mink transmitting the infection to each other.
Professor Lone Simonsen said the current concern is the spread of the infection among mammals, and the fact that this is the largest outbreak of bird flu on record could lead to mutations that could cause transmission to humans. She added that the strain spreading among birds in the current outbreak is spreading more efficiently among birds than the original virus. According to the professor, the virus found in mink in Spain had a mutation that makes it easier for viruses to spread among mammals.
World Health Organization: The likelihood of the virus spreading between humans is low.
Although there is a high risk of infection among wild boars in Denmark
ولكن وفقاً لمنظمة الصحة العالمية فإن الفايروس “لم يكتسب القدرة على الانتقال المستدام بين البشر، وبالتالي فإن احتمال انتشاره من إنسان إلى آخر منخفض”، ومع ذلك تؤكد منظمة الصحة العالمية أيضاً على أهمية المراقبة العالمية.
According to the World Health Organization update of January 5, 2023, since 2003 there have been 868 reported human cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1, resulting in 457 deaths.
Since 2020, when an outbreak of the new variant emerged among birds worldwide, seven cases have been recorded among humans, including two deaths.
There are no known cases of human-to-human transmission.
ووفقاً لـ لونه سيمونسن فإن آخر ثلاث أوبئة رئيسية للإنفلونزا كانت في الأعوام 1918 – الإنفلونزا الإسبانية – و1957 و 1968 وكانت تحتوي على مادة وراثية من إنفلونزا الطيور.
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