UN agencies warn that bird flu may 'more readily' infect people. What this means

Only six cases of the bird flu outbreak included people who had frequent contact with sick birds, according to the World Health Organisation.

 Three UN organizations issued a warning amid widespread avian flu outbreaks that the virus could change to infect people more readily. They urged nations to step up disease surveillance and improve conditions at chicken farms. This occurs when concerns of a pandemic among humans increase due to the emergence of a new, extremely contagious H5N1 strain of bird flu in wild birds in new geographical areas.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), there have only been six cases of people who have had intimate contact with sick birds, and the majority of those cases have been minor. 

According to Dr. Gregorio Torres, head of the science department at WOAH, "There is a recent paradigm shift in the ecology and epidemiology of avian influenza that has increased global concern as the disease spread to new geographical regions and caused unusual wild bird die-offs, as well as an alarming rise in mammalian cases." 

Countries should collaborate across sectors, according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation and the World Organisation for Animal Health of the United Nations.

Dr. Sylvie Briand, the WHO's director of epidemic and pandemic preparation and prevention, said, "We encourage all countries to improve their capacity to monitor these viruses and to detect any human cases." 

According to the organizations, nations must also exchange genetic information about human and animal virus strains in publicly accessible databases. Since 2022, there have been outbreaks of avian flu in both terrestrial and marine mammals in about 10 different nations.

There are perhaps additional nations where epidemics are still undetected or unreported. At least 26 species of land and marine mammals, including outbreaks in farmed mink in Spain, seals in America, and sea lions in Peru and Chile, have been impacted, according to the WHO.