A certain concern would be all too understandable. While Great Britain is struggling with a massive increase in new corona infections, it is known that for the first time in the country a person has been infected with the H5 bird flu. In fact, the specific case seems to give little cause for concern.
It was found in the south-west of England as part of routine examinations, which in Great Britain are always carried out as a precautionary measure on keepers of infected animals. According to information from the national health authority UKHSA, an unspecified person who had close contact with infected birds “in and around their home” was infected with the pathogen. She is doing well and is currently in domestic isolation. All contact persons have been identified; Indications of further infections could not be found, it said. Laboratory analysis of the smear revealed that it was an H5 virus. It is not yet clear whether the infection was due to the H5N1 strain that is currently circulating heavily among birds in the UK.
It is rare for people to become infected with an H5 type. Mostly it is then about infections with the type H5N1. From 2003 to the end of 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) registered more than 860 confirmed H5N1 infections in humans. The majority of it happened in Asia. No case has yet been registered in Germany. The pathogen type can cause severe disease and death; of those infected so far, 52 percent died. Pathogens of the type H5N6 have occasionally caused severe disease and death in humans. The first transmissions of the H5N8 virus to humans were recently observed in Russia. The illnesses were mild.
What all these virus types have in common is that they are not adapted to humans. “In order for a person to become infected with an avian flu virus, a high dose of the virus is required because pathogens have to overcome significant barriers,” says biologist Holly Shelton, head of the influenza virus group at the UK’s Pirbright Institute for Animal Health. As a rule, humans only become infected through long and intensive contact with birds. They also hardly ever pass the pathogen on.
This also seems to hold true for current developments in the UK. “The genetic makeup of the most recent strain of H5N1 avian influenza reported in the UK does not suggest that the virus is capable of transmitting from person to person efficiently and effectively,” says Holly Shelton. Isabel Oliver, scientific director of the UKHSA, also sees no evidence that this strain can spread among humans. But in principle, experts like her always listen carefully when it comes to bird flu pathogens: “We know that viruses can change constantly”. This is particularly true for influenza viruses.
Malcolm Bennett, professor of infectious diseases at Nottingham University, warned of further developments in the face of the case: “The number of avian influenza outbreaks and the length of time they occur seem to have increased in recent years – presumably in context with climate change “. In principle, more people could be infected with this or more mutations of the pathogen could occur.
Germany is experiencing an unprecedented wave of avian influenza
Influenza viruses are currently circulating among birds in many countries. More than 20 countries reported outbreaks in poultry holdings between November and December 2021, according to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE).
According to the Friedrich Loeffler Institute for Animal Health, Germany and Europe are currently experiencing an epidemic like never before. In the past three months there have been 46 outbreaks of the disease, also known as avian influenza, in stables and farms. And an end is not yet in sight. The economic damage of such outbreaks is great; the affected animal populations usually have to be completely culled. In addition, almost 400 wild birds died of bird flu were discovered in Germany.
Even if people are not at great risk of being infected, experts advise caution. Dead birds should not be touched with bare hands. Anyone who has come into contact with infected poultry should watch out for symptoms of a respiratory disease or conjunctivitis for at least ten days and, if necessary, consult a doctor. Infection through the consumption of poultry meat or eggs from infected animals is considered to be rather unlikely.