One of the risks of being alive; getting infected with a nasty microorganism

BY SIONE J. SMITH

“When avian influenza viruses make the leap from birds to humans, they usually don’t spread between humans, and when they do, their transmission is typically “limited, inefficient and not sustained.” U.S. Centre for Disease Control and Prevention

What else is happening around the world that does not have to do with COVID-19 you ask? Well, how about other influenza virus strains if you can believe that.It is one of the risks of being alive, getting infected with a nasty microorganism.

For decades, microbiologists and public health officials have feared that an influenza pandemic similar to the one that occurred in 1918 (The Spanish flu) would break out again. The flu killed more people than World War I.

Subsequent influenza pandemics occurred in 1957, 1968, and 2009, with the latter being far less lethal than previous pandemics. Influenza poses a persistent pandemic threat because of its ability to quickly mutate. Not only does the virus mutate as it reproduces, but it also can recombine with other flu viruses.

Let’s take it back to February 2020. Russian authorities reported the first known cases of an avian influenza virus called H5N8. Seven workers at a poultry plant became infected with the virus in December 2020, following an outbreak among the bird flocks.

Russia did report the seven cases to the World Health Organization, noting that there was no evidence of human-to-human transmission. That means that the influenza virus jumped from infected birds into the workers who contracted H5N8, but it did not spread from human-to-human.

Since then, there have been reports of an H5N8 influenza virus spreading among birds across the globe, and this has understandably generated concern. On the occasions in which an H5 virus does infect humans, it can be highly lethal. There have been a reported 860 cases of H5 influenza in humans as of July 2018 with 454 fatalities. Most of these infections probably resulted from human contact with infected birds (like chickens) since human-to-human transmission is uncommon for H5 viruses.

On April 23^rd, 2021 a 41-year-old man in the city of Zhenjiang (China) developed a fever that progressed over the following days. On April 28^th, it became serious enough that he went to a local hospital for treatment.

On May 28^th, 2021 the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CCDC) performed a genetic analysis on specimens from the infected man and determined he was infected with H10N3. The CCDC began to monitor the surrounding province for additional cases of infection and specifically sought out the man’s close contacts, but they discovered no additional cases. The man is now in stable condition and ready for discharge from the hospital, the statement notes.

On June 1^st, 2021, China’s National Health Commission officially announced that the man had caught the first case of H10N3 bird flu ever reported in a human. The CCDC did not specify how or when the infected man might have picked up the virus from a bird. Based on the CCDC’s assessments so far, there’s little risk of the virus spreading on a large scale.

Since the virus doesn’t appear to pass between people, that gives our world leaders time to prepare for possible mutations and react in an adequate and timely fashion, should human-to-human transmission ever occur in the future, kind of like they were supposed to for our current pandemic.

However, in rare instances, avian flu can indeed spark major outbreaks among people, so monitoring for new cases of infection remains very important for public health. The last bird flu to cause significant outbreaks among humans was H7N9, which killed more than 300 people in 2016 and 2017

Sigh! The last thing we need right now is another influenza virus popping up and causing more havoc in the world. Don’t worry community; we will keep an eye on things for you and make sure that we keep you informed and prepared.