WHO 'closely monitoring' bird flu strain on mammals; says human transmission 'low'

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday said it is “closely monitoring” the detection of bird flu in mammals recently reported in several countries including the United Kingdom, France, and the United States.

In a virtual press conference, WHO confirmed spillover of the H5N1 Avian Influenza strain to small mammals but said the virus’ transmission to humans remains “low."

“Over the past few weeks, there have been several reports of mammals including minks, foxes, otters, and sea lions having been infected with H5N1 Avian Influenza. H5N1 has spread widely on wild birds and farm poultry for 25 years but the recent spillover to mammals needs to be monitored closely,” said WHO Director General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

“For the moment, WHO assesses the risk to humans as ‘low’ since H5N1 first emerged in 1996, we have only seen rare and non-sustained transmission of H5N1 to and between humans,” he said.

According to a report by Agence-France Presse, the spillover of the highly-transmissible virus common among wild birds and domestic poultry was reported in the UK, US, and France.

However, Ecuador reported South America's first case of the A(H5) bird flu virus in a human last month — a nine-year-old girl who was in contact with backyard poultry.

WHO said the case is “rare” and it has not since received any similar reports of infection.

“First to reassure you, since those cases, we never had… no more human cases with H5N1 in the recent days. Those cases are quite rare and they are due to direct exposure of humans to infected animals,” WHO Epidemic and Pandemic Preparedness and Prevention Director Dr. Sylvie Briand said.

Briand clarified the virus is “zoonotic” and remains “very adaptive” to animals and not humans, adding that due to its attributes, it is vital to contain the spread of the virus in animals to prevent transmission to the human population.

Ghebreyesus said the WHO is continuously coordinating with national authorities and partners in surveilling the transmission of the bird flu.

He also advised the public to remain vigilant and refrain from coming in contact with dead or sick animals to prevent being at risk of the virus.

“We cannot assume it will remain the case and we must remain on any change in the status quo. As always, people are advised not to touch or collect dead or sick animals but to report them to the local authorities,” Ghebreyesus added.—LDF, GMA Integrated News