The bird flu virus that has been spreading among wild birds, poultry and mammals could lead to a pandemic worse than Covid-19 if it mutates to transmit between humans, the head of France’s Institut Pasteur respiratory infections centre has said.
The highly pathogenic avian influenza, commonly called bird flu, has led to the culling of hundreds of millions of birds in the past few years, disrupting food supplies and driving up prices, though human infections remain rare.
“What we fear is the virus adapting to mammals, and particularly to humans, becoming capable of human-to-human transmission, and that virus would be a pandemic virus,” Marie-Anne Rameix-Welti, medical director at the Institut Pasteur’s respiratory infections centre, told Reuters.
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The Institut Pasteur was among the first European labs to develop and share Covid-19 detection tests, making protocols available to the World Health Organization and labs worldwide.
People have antibodies against common H1 and H3 seasonal flu, but none against the H5 bird flu affecting birds and mammals, like they had none against Covid-19, she said.
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And unlike Covid-19, which mainly affects vulnerable people, flu viruses can also kill healthy individuals, including children, Rameix-Welti said.