Bird flu: UK health officials make contingency plans

UK wellness experts are sharing details of their Covid-style plans against vertebrate flu, including modelling for the improbable script that it could mutate and origin a pandemic successful people.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) says determination is nary grounds H5N1 microorganism is an imminent menace oregon tin dispersed betwixt people, contempt immoderate getting sick aft interaction with infected birds.

But determination is nary country for complacency.

One adept told the BBC "we indispensable hole for the worst" conscionable successful case.

The World Health Organization (WHO) is urging heightened vigilance from each countries, pursuing the decease of an 11-year-old miss successful Cambodia from H5N1.

The girl's begetter has besides tested positive, according to Cambodia's wellness minister.

Investigators are moving to found if infected birds were the cause, alternatively than a lawsuit of human-to-human transmission.

Humans seldom get vertebrate flu, but erstwhile they bash it is usually from coming into nonstop interaction with infected birds.

Since precocious 2021, the satellite has been experiencing 1 of the worst planetary avian influenza outbreaks connected record, with tens of millions of poultry culled and wide chaotic vertebrate die-offs.

And determination person been a fewer infections successful immoderate mammals, including foxes and otters successful the UK.

Dr Meera Chand, from the UKHSA, said each of the latest grounds suggested H5N1 could not presently dispersed easy to people.

"However, viruses perpetually evolve, and we stay vigilant for immoderate grounds of changing hazard to the population, arsenic good arsenic moving with partners to code gaps successful the technological evidence."

In mentation for a worst-case script of human-to-human spread, the UKHSA is modelling:

When the Covid pandemic hit, determination were nary suitable vaccines disposable to combat that virus. But for vertebrate flu, determination are already respective bully candidates that mightiness help.

WHO-affiliated labs already clasp 2 flu microorganism strains that are intimately related to the circulating H5N1 virus, that manufacturers tin usage to make caller shots if needed, experts said astatine a gathering connected Friday.

Prof Peter Openshaw, from Imperial College London, is simply a subordinate of Nervtag - the radical that advises the British authorities connected caller and emerging threats from respiratory viruses.

He told the BBC that the information that we are inactive successful a Covid pandemic successful nary mode lessened the anticipation of different pandemic coming from elsewhere.

"We perfectly request to ticker this one," helium said.

"The bully quality astatine the infinitesimal is that there's nary grounds of human-to-human spread.

"We request to hole for the worst but evidently anticipation for the best, to usage the aged phrase."

"Not different pandemic" mightiness good beryllium the exasperated effect of galore to speech of the risks from vertebrate flu.

Covid fatigue is understandable but the H5N1 microorganism is simply a existent interest to galore scientists who show planetary illness threats.

Thankfully, the microorganism does not dispersed easy from birds to humans, requiring adjacent contact. That would request to alteration if the menace of a quality pandemic was to beryllium realised, which would necessitate the microorganism to mutate.

Since 2003 the WHO has recorded 868 cases successful humans, of which 457 were fatal, truthful the mortality complaint is much than 50%.

Scientists privation to spot amended surveillance, much concern successful vaccines and antivirals - truthful that should the worst ever happen, the satellite volition beryllium amended prepared than it was erstwhile Covid emerged.