The WHO is worried: will another epidemic come after Covid?

It is feared that the virus, which has so far spread from animal to human, may also spread from human to human during the mutation process.

The UN World Health Organization (WHO) expressed concern on Thursday about the increasing number of infections caused by new variants of H5N1 bird flu and the possibility of human-to-human transmission. At a press conference in Geneva, Jeremy Farrar, one of the organization's leading employees, said that the spread of new variants is still a cause for serious concern.

As he said

it is feared that the virus, which has so far spread from animal to human - and still had a high mortality rate - may also spread from human to human during the mutation process.

From the beginning of January last year to April 2024, the WHO registered a total of 889 people from 23 countries who fell ill with H5N1, of which 463 died from the infection, which otherwise had a 52 percent mortality rate.

Farrar underlined: it is even more important to detect cases that have not been registered before placing infected animals under observation. Regarding the latest cases, he mentioned the case of cows diagnosed with bird flu in the United States, adding that since the beginning of April, the American authorities had reported a person infected with the virus. According to the information, the man - whose eyes only turned red - was placed in quarantine and is being treated with antiviral medication.

This year, a 9-year-old boy died of H5N1 in Cambodia, and three deaths were registered in the same country last year.

(MTI)

Cover image: Illustration / MTI/Attila Balázs