Urgent warning on fears of new bird flu pandemic as WHO predicts “extraordinarily high” death rates

The World Health Organization has expressed “huge concern” about the spread of the H5N1 bird flu strain to humans following another outbreak.

Fears are beginning to spread as the WHO warns that there could be “extraordinarily high mortality rates” if the disease gets out of control.

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Bird flu is extremely deadly and caused huge declines in bird populations after arriving in Europe in 2020.

The outbreak was devastating for the poultry industry and millions of birds were culled.

The virus has now made an alarming leap to mammals such as cows, cats, seals and now people, increasing the likelihood of it becoming more transmissible.

Although there is no evidence of human-to-human transmission, scientists have warned it would be far more deadly than Covid.

WHO experts said humans would face an “extraordinarily high” mortality rate if the strain became established.

Currently, more than half of those infected die.

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Jeremy Farrar, chief scientist at the UN health agency, said: “I think this remains a huge concern.”

He added: “The big concern, of course, is that by infecting ducks and chickens and then more and more mammals, this virus now evolves and develops the ability to infect humans and then, critically, the ability to jump from human to human”.

He continued: “When you get into the mammal population, you get closer to humans… this virus is just looking for new hosts.

“It’s a real concern.”

According to Animal and Plant Health inspection service since February 2022 the virus has led to 82 million poultry being slaughtered.

So far there is no evidence that it is spreading between humans.

But its evolution to infect more species is what worries scientists most.

Official data shows that between 2003 and April 1, 2024, there were 463 recorded deaths from 889 human cases in 23 countries.

This puts the fatality rate at 52 percent.

U.S. authorities said earlier this month that a person in Texas was recovering from bird flu after being exposed to dairy cattle.

It’s a tragic thing to say, but if I get infected with H5N1 and die, that will be the end

Sir Jeremy FarrarChief scientist at the UN health agency

It was only the second case of a human testing positive for bird flu in the country and came after the virus struck livestock that had reportedly been exposed to wild birds in Texas, Kansas and other states.

It also appears to be the first human infection with the influenza A virus strain through contact with an infected mammal, the WHO said.

Sir Jeremy Farrar said greater monitoring is needed to understand how human infections are happening.

He said: “It’s a tragic thing to say, but if I get infected with H5N1 and die, that will be the end of it.

“If I go around the community and spread it to someone else, you start the cycle.”

A report from the Rare Breeds Survival Trust (RBST) warned this week that all native breeds of chickens, ducks, geese and Peruare threatened by bird flu.

Efforts are underway to develop vaccines and therapeutics for H5N1 if the situation worsens.

But Sir Jeremy stressed that regional and national health authorities need the capacity to diagnose the virus to ensure the world is “in a position to respond immediately”.

The latest outbreak of bird flu in the UK saw not only poultry farmers suffer, but also domestic owners who had to shut their birds down for months on end to try to stop the spread.

This has caused many to express concern for the welfare of their chickens, as they report that their birds are becoming restless and stressed.

Thousands of penguins are believed to have been killed by a deadly outbreak of bird flu, fueling fears of an “Antarctic Plague”.

The H5N1 strain could even be “dangerously close” to triggering another pandemic, experts have warned.

And a student in Vietnam died of bird flu just days after noticing a new cough.

The 21-year-old tested positive for the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of bird flu, which has now been found in the UK and US.

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