“We have seen … increasing numbers of human infections with the H5N1 virus around the world, not just in the United States, over the past few years,” said Maria Van Kerkhove, the American epidemiologist who heads the WHO Department of Prevention and Preparedness for Epidemics and Pandemics, at a press conference. “What we really need globally, in the United States and elsewhere, is much closer surveillance of animals, wild birds, poultry, animals known to be affected by infection, including pigs and dairy cows, in order to better understand its spread in these animals,” she said.
Avian influenza A (H5N1) first appeared in 1996, but since 2020 the number of outbreaks in birds has exploded and an increasing number of mammal species have been affected. In March, cases of infection were detected in several herds of dairy cows across the United States. US health authorities believe the risk posed by the virus to public health is low. However, this risk is higher for people exposed to livestock at their workplace, including birds, dairy cows, etc. Last Friday, American health authorities announced that a child had tested positive for bird flu, a first in the United States. “Including this most recent case, 55 human cases of avian influenza (subtype) H5 have been reported in the United States in 2024,” according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). All but two had “known exposure to infected animals,” Van Kerkhove said.
She called on the international community to “redouble efforts to reduce the risk of infection between animals, to new species and to humans”, notably through screening and protective equipment for professional workers who could be exposed. to the virus. “We need to make sure they get tested, that they have access to care, to mitigate any potential spread,” she said. So far, she said, “we have not observed signs of human-to-human infection, but for each of the human cases detected, we want a very thorough investigation to be carried out.”
The manager, who led the WHO’s technical response to Covid-19, underlined the importance of preparation efforts “to prepare ourselves for the possibility of an influenza pandemic. We are not there yet, but we must be more vigilant,” she insisted.
