The world is currently experiencing the largest bird flu epidemic ever recorded. Since October 2021, hundreds of millions of domestic and wild birds have died from this infection worldwide.
But the growing concern of experts in recent months has not been caused by the death of birds, but by the fact that the virus seems to have learned to change the host and infect mammals.
So, an outbreak of bird flu was registered in Spain, on a mink breeding farm.
In addition, cases of avian influenza have been identified among marine mammals off the coasts of Peru and New England, as well as among wildlife in North America: foxes, skunks, otters, lynxes, bears and raccoons.
But that’s not all – at the end of February, an 11-year-old girl died from bird flu in Cambodia.
Does this mean the beginning of a new pandemic?
What is bird flu?
There are many subtypes of the influenza virus circulating in wild birds. Most of these subtypes are low pathogenic, meaning they usually cause very little or no symptoms of infection. However, some varieties are highly pathogenic, as in the case of the virus that caused the current global outbreak of avian influenza.
This is the H5N1 virus, clade (variant) 2.3.4.4b. It is this strain that is now causing concern to virologists. The outbreak began in 2020-2021 and quickly spread to Europe and Asia. In December 2021, H5N1 reached North America, causing the death of poultry and wild birds. A year later, in December 2022, the virus reached South America, where not only birds, but also seals became its victims. So far, only Australia and Antarctica remain free from H5N1.
How can this affect people?
Influenza in humans, pigs, dogs, horses is caused by different subtypes and strains of the virus. However, viruses have the ability to “jump” from one species to another. This effect is called “spillover” (literally – overflow). For example, strains of human influenza have been found in Australian pigs, and some variants of the canine virus originally infected horses.
Scientists are concerned about the large number of cases of spillover associated with the H5N1 2.3.4.4b variant – the fact that he “learned” to infect minks, as well as seals, foxes, raccoons and other mammals in a short time.
Coronavirus kills: the stars who died from the pandemic are in our gallery:
1990s movie star Valery Garkalin died of coronavirus on November 20 at the age of 67. He was vaccinated first with KoviVac and then with Sputnik, but ended up in that percentage of people who do not form antibodies.
Literary critic Marietta Chudakova fell ill with coronavirus on November 3, despite the fact that she did not leave home for a year and a half. On November 21, she died in intensive care at a hospital in Kommunarka, she was 84 years old.
Igor Kirillov. The Soviet television announcer caught the coronavirus in the hospital, where he successfully survived the amputation of his leg. But the body of an 89-year-old man could not cope with covid.
Peter Mamonov. The musician, poet, actor, one of the most extravagant characters in Russian culture, died in intensive care on a ventilator at the age of 71 in July.
Glory to Se. Latvian writer (real name – Vyacheslav Soldatenko), who became famous in the 2000s. thanks to his LiveJournal, died at the age of 52 in June 2021.
Vasily Lanovoy. People’s Artist of the USSR, who made his film debut in 1954 in the film “Certificate of Maturity”, died in intensive care from covid complications on January 28, 2021. He was 87 years old.
Boris Grachevsky. The creator of the Yeralash newsreel fell ill at the end of 2020 and was initially treated at home, then he was taken to intensive care. On January 14, the director was put into an artificial coma, from which he never came out. He was 71 years old.
Irina Antonova. President of the Pushkin Museum im. Pushkin, who for many years headed one of the main museums in the country, did a lot for Russian art and for cultural exchange between countries. The coronavirus claimed her life on December 1 – she was 98 years old.
Kim Ki Duk. The iconic Korean director died of covid complications on December 11, 2020 in Latvia. He came there to shoot a new film – or, according to another version, to choose his own housing. Since 59-year-old Kim Ki-duk spoke neither English, nor Latvian, nor Russian, he disappeared for several days before his death, and he was not immediately recognized in the hospital.
Larry King. The permanent host of the evening talk show, trendsetter in the genre of television interviews, which once inspired Vladislav Listyev, was hospitalized before the New Year and died of coronavirus on January 23 at the age of 87.
Boris Plotnikov. The performer of the role of Dr. Bormental in Heart of a Dog and Sotnikov in Ascension died in a coronavirus hospital on December 2. Like Boris Grachevsky, he was in his 72nd year.
Roman Viktyuk. The theater director, a radical innovator of the Russian theater, died from the effects of the coronavirus on November 17 at the age of 85.
Valerie Giscard d’Estaing. The ex-president of France (1974–1981) fell ill with coronavirus at the end of December, and the immune system of the 94-year-old politician, weakened by numerous chronic diseases, could not cope with an unfamiliar infection.
Mikhail Kokshenov. The performer of dozens of various roles in Soviet and Russian cinema, as well as the cult director of the 1990-2000s, was 83 years old when she died of coronavirus on June 4.
Boris Alexandrov. A rare example when an entrepreneur in Russia could be considered a celebrity – largely due to “nominal” products. He passed away on November 30, 2020 at the age of 73.
Source: Vladislav Shatilo / RBC
What happened in Cambodia?
On February 22, an 11-year-old girl died in southern Cambodia from severe pneumonia caused by H5N1 avian influenza. The virus was also isolated from her father, but he showed no symptoms of infection. In both cases, the infection most likely came from infected birds found in the family’s household. Experts concluded that the likelihood of transmission of the virus from person to person is unlikely.
In addition, genetic sequencing of the virus isolated from father and daughter showed that it belongs to the 2.3.2.1c variant common in Cambodia, and not to the 2.3.4.4b variant currently circulating around the world.
This is far from the first time that H5N1 has “jumped” onto people. Such cases have already been noted earlier in Ecuador, China, USA, Spain, Great Britain, Vietnam, Russia. Fortunately, each time they were associated with the fact that people were in contact with infected birds, and not infected from each other.
However, if the virus has the ability to choose a new host, the likelihood of individual outbreaks or even a pandemic increases.
The fact that 2.3.4.4b appears to have mutated and now easily infects mammals, including humans, is disturbing.
Experts are now closely monitoring how H5N1 spreads in animals, and tracking human infections, which, fortunately, are still very few. Since the ability of the virus to be transmitted from person to person has not been proven, the WorldHealth Organization considers the risk of an avian influenza pandemic to be low, but advises people to minimize contact with birds.
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