The risk of a new avian flu epidemic is becoming more and more concrete. And according to experts it will be much more deadly than Covid. Here’s what awaits us in the coming months.
The alarm is not new, but only now does it take on tones of true urgency. The whole world must prepare for one new health disaster much more lethal than Covid. The new pandemic will be bird flu. And if the World Health Organization, the official agency of the UN, says so with an official warning issued in the last few hours, this should not be taken lightly.
Not by chance thehe warning from the WHO was immediately relaunched via social media by Matteo Bassetti, director of the infectious disease clinic of San Martino in Genoa and among the most authoritative and listened to voices in the years of the coronavirus. Avian influenza is a highly contagious disease of birds transmissible to humans in particular conditions, through direct contact with dead or sick birds and/or with surfaces or materials contaminated by infected excretions and secretions or through mucous membranes, with infected aerosols, or with the consumption of undercooked meat of infected birds. How should we prepare for this new challenge?
The world with bated breath in the face of the new risk of avian flu
By sharing an article of New York Times, the professor. Bassetti warned everyone: “A much more deadly pandemic than Covid could come soon. This is avian flu which has a mortality rate of over 50%. We must all work together to prevent it from happening and to mitigate its consequences if it happens”. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general, recalled during a meeting with the press that since the H5N1 virus emerged in 1996, we have seen only rare and non-prolonged transmissions from and between humans. But we cannot assume it will stay that way and we need to prepare for any change in the status quo. For the moment, the main recommendation is the same as always: do not touch or collect dead or sick wild animals, but report them to the local authorities.
To turn on a new warning light was aepidemic found in mink of some farms in Galicia, in the north-west of Spain. In the UK, nine cases have been reported among otters, mink and foxes in the last two years. Several European countries had previously been affected by an epidemic of avian influenza caused by subtypes H5N1 and H5N8. The 2020-2021 wave was one of the largest and most lasting that has ever occurred in Europe and involved almost all the countries of the old continent, including Italy.
The fear is that the growing diffusion among animals could lead to mutations that would favor the spread of the disease among humans. That is why WHO has recommended “strengthening surveillance in environments where humans and farmed or wild animals interact, continuing to work with manufacturers to ensure that, if necessary, supplies of vaccines and antivirals are available for global use”. Woe to us if we fell back into a new pandemic nightmare.