New Delhi: The bird flu outbreak is being noticed in various places across the world including India. The virus is wreaking havoc in the farms of the United States and has infiltrated six continents so far. The virus is spreading not only in animals but also in humans and mammals. As per a recent report, a child in Australia reported positive for the H5N1 virus and had a travel history to India. However, human transmission is rare and the risk remains low in people but the longer it lingers, the researchers predict it to cause the next pandemic.
Rober Redfield, the former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director in a recent report predicted that the next pandemic could be from bird flu and it is just a matter of when that will happen. Speaking with a news channel about the rising concerns for bird fly as the virus continues to spread across cow herds in the US, Redfield said, he doesn’t think it is very likely that we will at some time have a bird flu pandemic and the question is when it will take place.
He further noted that the bird flu has a significant mortality when it enters humans as compared to the COVID-19 virus.
Mortality rate of Bird Flu
The mortality rate for COVID-19 was 0.6 per cent but the mortality rate of bird flu would probably be somewhere around 25 to 50 per cent. Earlier this month, officials in the US, reported the country’s third human case of bird flu associated with the current spread of the virus in the dairy cattle. While around 15 human infections caused due to bird flu virus H5N1 has been detected across the globe.
Risk of virus spread among humans
According to Redfield, so far there is no evidence that the virus is spreading between humans but there is a possibility because there must be five amino acids present for the bird flu to gain a propensity to bind to a human receptor and then it able to go human to human as Covid.
Moreover, once the virus gains the ability to attach to the human receptor and then go human to human, that’s when there is a possibility for a pandemic to happen. It is just a matter of time said, Redfield in the interview.
As per a recent report, a child in Australia reported positive for the H5N1 virus and had a travel history to India. However, human transmission is rare and the risk remains low in people but the longer it lingers, the researchers predict it to cause the next pandemic. Check out what an expert from US anticipates Health Conditions Health News: Latest News from Health Care, Mental Health, Weight Loss, Disease, Nutrition, Healthcare
