H5N1
– SCI & TECH
News:
Alarm Bells Ring Over
H5N1 Bird Flu: Experts Warn of Pandemic Worse Than Covid
What's
in the news?
●
Experts are sounding the alarm over the
potential for a bird flu pandemic that could be significantly more devastating than the Covid-19 crisis,
with the H5N1 strain posing a particularly dire threat.
Key
takeaways:
●
The urgency of the matter was underscored
by the discovery of multiple H5N1 infections across a variety of mammals,
including cows, cats and humans, which raises concerns about the virus mutating
to become more easily transmissible among humans.
H5N1/Bird
Flu:
●
Bird flu or avian influenza is a disease
caused by avian influenza Type A viruses
found naturally in wild birds worldwide.
●
Avian influenza, or bird flu, is a highly
contagious viral infection that primarily affects birds.
●
It can infect domestic poultry including chickens, ducks, turkeys, pigs, cats
and tigers.
Does
it Spread to Humans?
●
Infrequently, the virus can infect mammals
from birds, a phenomenon called spillover and rarely can spread between mammals.
●
This subtype has caused a number of human
infections through close contact with infected birds or contaminated
environments and is often fatal.
●
Recent reports of H5N1 spread between
mammals raise concerns about its potential to cause a human pandemic if it were
to spill over and become transmissible among humans.
Types
of Avian Influenza:
●
Avian Influenza type A viruses are
classified based on two proteins on their surfaces – Hemagglutinin (HA) and Neuraminidase (NA).
●
There are about 18 HA subtypes and 11 NA
subtypes.
●
Several combinations of these two proteins
are possible e.g., H5N1, H7N2, H9N6, H17N10, etc.
Symptoms:
●
Virus infections in humans have ranged
from mild to severe influenza-like illness.
●
Fever, cough, sore throat, muscle aches,
nausea, abdominal pain, diarrhoea, vomiting etc.
●
Severe respiratory illness (e.g.,
shortness of breath, difficulty breathing, pneumonia, acute respiratory
distress, viral pneumonia, respiratory failure).
●
Neurologic changes (altered mental status,
seizures).
Prevention
of Spillovers:
●
Vaccination of poultry.
●
Safe disposal of dead birds.
●
Wearing personal protective equipment when
handling birds.
●
Quarantine and culling of affected
animals.
●
Improved surveillance and monitoring of
H5N1 in birds and other animals.
●
Molecular surveillance of H5N1.
●
Genome sequencing can be employed to
monitor the emergence of new subtypes and keep a close watch on mutations and
virulence factors that may increase the ability to infect humans.