After several years of corona, researchers are warning about bird flu and how it could possibly lead to the next pandemic. The concern among researchers has arisen after the bird flu began to spread in mammals – something that is very unusual. Last autumn there was an alarm about an outbreak of bird flu on a mink farm in Spain, where the minks probably spread the infection between each other. Another outbreak was found in Peru, where the infection has spread and caused mass death among sea lions. In February, a case was also reported in Cambodia, where an 11-year-old girl died infected with the virus. The infection is caused by the H5N1 virus and has different virus variants. Both Europe and North America have had an unusually high number of bird flu cases in recent years, and now scientists are warning of the risk that the virus could start spreading between people. At the same time, some say we don’t need to be so worried. Former state epidemiologist Anders Tegnell has previously said this to Svenska Dagbladet: “These viruses change all the time, and if they had been able to change in such a way that they became really dangerous, it would probably have happened by now.” “A warning sign” Amina Manzoor, medicine reporter at Expressen, tells us that they use minks in research instead of humans when it comes to influenza viruses, for example, which according to her is alarming for that reason. – It is not good for it to spread between animals. All of a sudden it has started to behave a little differently, you could say. That it infects people is very rare. Since the virus was discovered in 1996, there have been less than a thousand cases. – You have to be close to birds, infected birds, and come into contact with them. It’s not like it’s contagious between humans and these minks didn’t infect any humans either, says Manzoor. Björn Olsen is an ornithologist and professor of infectious diseases at Uppsala University and believes that the virus should be monitored extra carefully. – This is a virus you have to keep an eye on. There are some groups of viruses that we need to look at more closely, influenza is one such group and corona is one such group, he says and continues: – That this virus has changed its shape in a way, like on the mink farm in Spain, is a warning sign as well like something, says Olsen in Efter fem. See the interview in the player above.
t4-general
New cases of bird flu worry scientists: "Began to behave differently”
