After discovering two confirmed human cases of H5N1 bird flu in a single family in Cambodia, the World Health Organization is collaborating with local authorities.
Director of Epidemic and Pandemic Preparedness and Prevention Dr. Sylvie Briand told reporters in a virtual briefing that WHO was evaluating its worldwide risk assessment in light of the latest developments, calling the situation “worrying” given the recent increase in cases in birds and mammals.
The risk of bird flu to humans was recently evaluated as low by the United Nations health agency earlier this month. On Thursday, Cambodian authorities confirmed the death of an 11-year-old girl from H5N1 and began testing 12 of her contacts. Her symptomatic father has also tested positive for the infection.
With the global spread of the H5N1 virus in birds and the rising reports of infections in mammals, including people, Briand is concerned about the current state of affairs. The World Health Organization (WHO) is extremely concerned about the potential consequences of this virus and has issued a call for increased global monitoring.
Briand said it was not yet known whether there had been any human-to-human transmission, which was a key reason to focus on the cases in Cambodia, or whether the two instances were due to the “similar environmental factors,” likely close contact with infected birds or other animals.
In recent months, both wild birds and farmed poultry have been dying in record numbers due to a new strain of H5N1, clade 2.3.4.4b, which arose in 2020. The fact that it has spread to mammals is a major cause for alarm around the world.
This subtype of H5N1, which has been circulating for more than two decades, is not seriously killing humans. Only around a half-dozen instances, all of which were minor, have been reported to the WHO thus far among people who had intimate contact with sick birds. According to experts, the virus may need to evolve before it can spread to humans.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said it was increasing its preparedness efforts regardless, and it pointed out that antivirals and 20 licensed pandemic vaccines were available in case the situation changed. However, the vaccines would need to be updated to more closely match the circulating strain of H5N1.
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According to Richard Webby, head of the WHO Collaborating Center for Research on the Ecology of Influenza in Animals and Birds at St. Jude Children’s Hospital, this could take four to five months. Nonetheless, there would be some vaccines available in the interim that had been hoarded (as per reports of Reuters).
WHO-affiliated labs already contain two flu virus strains that are closely linked to the circulating H5N1 virus, which manufacturers can utilize to make new injections if needed. Webby told the audience that a conference of influenza experts from around the world this week advised creating a new strain that more closely matches H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b.
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