While the Covid-19 pandemic remains fresh in memories, a frightening virus statement came from the World Health Organization (WHO). While WHO announced that the first human death due to A(H5N2) bird flu occurred in Mexico, it warned that a new type of bird flu could have a ‘major impact on public health’. Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine, Head of Pediatric Infectious Diseases Department, Prof. Dr. Mehmet Ceyhan noted that the H5N2 virus has not yet been reported even in animals in Turkey and there is no need to worry.
Prof. Dr. Ceyhan noted that the H5N2 virus, which was known to cause disease only in birds and other poultry before the case in Mexico, had previously been reported in Asia, Africa, America and Europe, and that there was no animal case seen in Turkey yet.
IT WAS RECORDED AS THE FIRST HUMAN DEATH FROM BIRD FLU
In the statement made by WHO, it was stated that a 59-year-old patient who was hospitalized in Mexico City with complaints of fever, shortness of breath, diarrhea and nausea died on April 24, and the case was recorded as the first laboratory-confirmed human death caused by the A(H5N2) variant of bird flu. It was stated that it passed.
“WE ARE MOST INFECTED FROM POULTRY”
Stating that the H5N2 virus is carried by migratory birds and is a highly contagious disease, Ceyhan said, “Migratory birds spend the summer months in Siberia and the winter months in Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Turkey is a country on their route, and therefore they are placed in certain areas in Turkey to meet their water needs. Especially if we feed poultry in those areas close to them, they can come to them and infect them while trying to eat their feed. “We are mostly infected with this poultry,” he said.
Ceyhan pointed out that the H5N2 virus had previously become an epidemic in the United States due to turkeys and in Mexico due to poultry.
“WHERE HE GOT THE VIRUS HAS NOT BEEN ESTABLISHED YET”
Noting that the 59-year-old patient who died in Mexico was the first known H5N2 case, he said, “He is 59 years old but has serious health problems. He dies with flu in the hospital, but in flu cases 3 weeks after his hospitalization, the incubation period usually extends up to 3 weeks. Therefore, it has no known connection with what is seen in animals, but where it got it from has not yet been revealed. “He died on April 24, but the research on the virus and the confirmation of this in the World Health Organization took last week and therefore it has just been published,” he said.
Ceyhan noted that since human-to-human transmission of the H5N2 virus has not yet been shown, it can only be transmitted to humans from poultry or sometimes cattle, and added that for this reason, it will not cause a major epidemic in humans and that it is seen in isolated cases.
“THERE IS NO DANGER OF CAUSING AN EPIDEMIC IN HUMANS”
Ceyhan stated that the H5N2 virus has not yet been reported even in animals in Turkey and said, “In order to pose an epidemic risk, it must acquire the ability to be transmitted from person to person. There are currently three viruses that can be transmitted from person to person. There are two A viruses, which we call H3N2 and H1N1, and one B virus. Others are shown in animals, but there is no danger of causing an epidemic in humans. That’s why we shouldn’t worry,” he said. (UAV)
