Fears of a new pandemic have been raised in a horror study which suggests the world isn't doing enough to monitor the spread of a deadly flu virus. A study of bird flu transmission between mammals led by The Pirbright Institute suggests global control measures for the H5N1 avian flu virus aren't strong enough. H5N1 was confined to poultry in Asia but has spread around the world and leapt to species of mammals, including cows, seals, mink and cats.
A new strain of H5N1 in wild birds has been detected in Europe, Africa, North America, South America and the Antarctic. Wild birds have introduced H5N1 into dairy cattle and marine mammals, with its growing presence in the environment increasing the risk of people being exposed and possibly catching it. The first evidence of a spread between mammals was in a mink farm in Spain .
This was followed by a second outbreak at 71 fur farms in Finland. In early 2023, the virus was found in sea lions in Peru and Chile. It then spread through Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil, with experts identifying viral mutations not present in birds.
Dairy farmers in Texas saw reduced milk production from February this year, with H5N1 identified as the cause. That outbreak spread to New Mexico, Oklahoma, Colorado, Kansas, Idaho and seven other US states. Thirteen human cases linked to that bovine strain were identified as of July 26, according to the study.
A fourteenth person caught bird flu and was hospitalised in August due to underlying health conditions.