The number of Avian influenza homes among mammals has more than duplicate in the world last year, increasing the risk of a propagation of humans in humans, an international agency warned on Friday.
The avian flu has spread in the world as never before in recent years, with the consequences of the massive killing of corral birds, the outbreak of the price of eggs and the death of several people who were in contact with infected birds.
If the general risk of transmission to humans remains low, the recurrence of the epidemics of avian flu in mammals such as cattle, dogs and cats increase the possibility of seeing the virus adapt and transmitted between humans, the World Organization for Animal Health (OMSA) said in a new report.
However, the number of homes among mammals rose to 1,022 in 55 countries last year, against 459 in 2023, according to the agency based in Paris, which monitors animal diseases worldwide.
“It’s worrying because we are witnessing a change in the epidemiological scheme of the virus,” Emmanuelle Saubeyran, OMSA director of OMSA, told AFP.
“Global emergency”
Health experts sounded the alarm about the threat of the pandemic represented by the aviar flu, which has already demonstrated its ability to mutate when spreading in particular among dairy cows farms in the United States.
This report is published at a time when the budgets of American scientific and health agencies are subjected to important cuts from the Trump administration, which has remarkably decided to end an epidemiology program known as “Disease Detective” at the beginning of the year.
Aviary flu “is more than an animal health crisis: it is a global emergency that destabilizes agriculture, food security, commerce and ecosystems,” the report warns.
According to the first annual report of the agency on the state of animal health worldwide, more than 630 million reproductive birds have died of avian flu or have been sacrificed in the last twenty years. Wild birds have also suffered mass losses, whose magnitude is difficult to estimate.
The report underlines the role that vaccination can play in the detention of epidemics in birds, which decreases the risk of mammals and humans. He quotes France’s example, which began to vaccinate the ducks against avian flu in 2023.
According to a modeling of the Toulouse Veterinary School (south of France), there could be up to 700 homes in France in France that year, but there were only 10, the report indicates. For Emmanuelle Saubeyran, this strategy is a two -painting winner: it reduces the exposure of humans while allowing to export more poultry.
Antibiotic resistance
Biosafety, surveillance, increased transparency and global collaboration are also important tools to combat the threat of aviar flu, added Mrs. Saubeyran, asking for more investments in these areas.
Last month, Mexico pointed out his first death due to the aviar flu, that of a three -year -old girl. For its part, the United States registered its first death in January, while Avian Fry left two dead in Cambodia in January and February.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), about 50% of cases of avian flu infection have proven to be fatal.
The OMSA report also warns, in general, against the growing danger of seeing animal diseases that are transmitted to humans, climate change pushing species to establish themselves in new areas.
Almost 70% of emerging diseases notified to the agency in the last 20 years are considered to constitute a threat to human health.
Another danger: the growing resistance of certain antibiotic diseases, which constitutes “one of the greatest threats to global health, food security and economic stability,” according to the report.
Source: BFM TV
