Fresh bird flu pandemic fears as WHO warns outbreak is of 'enormous concern' ... trends now
The increasing spread of bird flu to humans is an 'enormous concern', the World Health Organization has warned.
The virus, an extremely deadly H5N1 subtype, has caused devastating declines in bird populations following its emergence in Europe in 2020.
It has since jumped to mammals such as cows, cats, seals and now people, raising the risk of the virus mutating to become more transmissible.
While there is no evidence of human-to-human transmission, scientists have warned it would be significantly more deadly than Covid.
Experts at the World Health Organization said the strain humans face an 'extraordinarily high' mortality rate if it were to take hold, currently killing more than half of those infected. Jeremy Farrar (pictured), the UN health agency's chief scientist, said: 'This remains I think an enormous concern'
UK scientists tasked with developing 'scenarios of early human transmission' of bird flu have warned that 5 per cent of infected people could die if the virus took off in humans (shown under scenario three). Under another scenario, the scientists assumed 1 per cent of those infected would be hospitalised and 0.25 per cent would die — similar to how deadly Covid was in autumn 2021 (scenario one). The other saw a death rate of 2.5 per cent (scenario two)
Over 700 confirmed cases of H5N1 have been detected among wild birds in England since September 2022, according to the UKHSA. Pictured above, a bird flu outbreak last February in Queens Park, Heywood, Rochdale
Experts at the WHO said humans face an 'extraordinarily high' mortality rate if the strain were to take hold, currently killing more than half of those infected.
Jeremy Farrar, the UN health agency's chief scientist, said: 'This remains I think an
