Lisa Vanderpump and Ariana Madix rule the White House Correspondents Dinner red carpet as guests of Prince Harry's 24-hour flying visit for Coronation: Duke plans to be on plane back to the US just two hours after the historic ceremony finishes Michelle Obama shocks Bruce Springsteen fans as she takes to the stage with the legendary rocker during concert in Barcelona The risk to people has been deemed 'low'.īut people are strongly urged not to touch sick or dead birds because the virus is lethal, killing 56 per cent of people it does manage to infect.īacking The Boss. Yes, but only 868 human cases of bird flu have been reported to the World Health Organization since 2003. The 56-year-old woman from the southern province of Guangdong was the third person known to have been infected with the H3N8 subtype of avian influenza, according to the WHO.Īlthough rare in people, H3N8 is common in birds, but it causes little to no sign of disease. Millions of chickens and turkeys in the UK have been culled or put into lockdown.īut earlier this year, on March 27, the World Health Organization (WHO) was also informed that a Chinese woman had become the first person to ever die from the H3N8 strain. Not only is the virus spreading at speed, it is also killing at an unprecedented level, leading some experts to say this is the deadliest variant so far. So far the virus H5N1 has been detected in some 80million birds and poultry globally since September 2021 - double the previous record the year before. Others go west and infect European species. New strains tend to appear first in Asia, from where more than 60 species of shore birds, waders and waterfowl head off to Alaska to breed and mix with migratory birds from the US. Wild birds are carriers, especially through migration.Īs they cluster together to breed, the virus spreads rapidly and is then carried to other parts of the globe. People can also catch bird flu if they kill or prepare infected poultry for eating. This includes touching infected birds, their droppings or bedding. In rare cases, it can be transmitted to humans through close contact with a dead or alive infected bird. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has currently set the threat level to level three, given there is 'evidence' of changes in the virus genome that could trigger 'mammalian infection', it said.Īny 'sustained' mammal-to-mammal transmission of the pathogen would raise the threat level to four, while human-to-human would push it to five.Īvian flu is an infectious type of influenza that spreads among birds. The group is also looking at potential candidate vaccines for humans if the virus spills over into people.Ĭurrent laws prevent poultry and most captive birds from being vaccinated against the pathogen.īut health chiefs are now 'actively' contemplating scrapping the ban, in response to the escalating threat bird flu poses. In the UK, the Animal and Plant Health Agency, an arm of DEFRA, is reviewing the bird flu risk to humans every week. There has only been one case of a British person becoming infected with H5N1 since the ongoing outbreak took off in October 2021.Īlan Gosling, a retired engineer in Devon, caught the virus in early 2022 after his ducks, some of which lived inside his home, became infected. Like other forms of flu, humans can get infected if the virus gets into their eyes, nose, mouth or is inhaled.īut with bird flu, this usually occurs in people who spend a lot of time with infected creatures, such as bird handlers. It has already spilled into mammals like mink, foxes, raccoons and bears, sparking fears it may soon acquire worrying new mutations that would allow it to cause a human pandemic. H3N2 is different to the H5N1 strain, which has sparked fears of a fresh pandemic in the wake of Covid after fuelling the world's biggest ever bird flu outbreak. He added: 'At the moment I judge this data warrants attention but that the case for a "threat" is not clear.' Meanwhile, Professor Ian Jones, a virologist at the University of Reading, said the study provides evidence the virus is 'creeping' towards being able to infect humans. ‘One might be more concerned about the longer-term pandemic potential in other species such as humans.' 'The virus does not seem to pose particularly worrying health threats to dogs. Professor James Wood, head of the department of veterinary medicine at the University of Cambridge, told The Telegraph: 'The changes in the canine virus apparently are making it better adapted to transmit within mammals, as you might expect after such a long period in dogs. Experts warned however the study shows the 'longer term pandemic potential' threat H3N2 now poses to humans.
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