Bird flu in humans is on the rise in China, raising suspicions of new, rapidly mutating variants
Experts are concerned about the increase in people affected by bird flu in China. The cause, they venture, could be that the main strain circulating so far has mutated and would have become more infectious to humans.
The figures for bird flu infection in China in 2021 were not as worrying as those of the 2017 outbreak, which accounted for up to six deaths. This year the World Health Organization (WHO) was informed of 21 human infections with the H5N6 subtype of avian flu, but the increase has been considerable since 2020 when there were only five cases.
"The increase in human cases in China this year is worrying. It is a virus that causes high mortality," said Thijs Kuiken, professor of comparative pathology at the Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam, in statements collected by Reuters.
Avian influenza viruses are constantly circulating in domestic and wild birds, but they rarely infect people. However, the evolution of viruses, which have increased as poultry populations grow, has become a major concern because they could transform into variants that easily spread between people and cause a pandemic.
A threat to the poultry industry and health
The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published on its website last month a study in which it noted that "the increasing genetic diversity and geographic distribution of H5N6 represents a serious threat to the poultry industry and health human ".
Of the recent H5N infections, at least 10 were caused by viruses genetically very similar to H5N8 that were very active on poultry farms in Europe last winter and also killed wild birds in China. That suggests that the latest H5N6 infections in China may be a new variant. "It could be that this variant is a bit more infectious (for people), or there could be more of this virus in poultry right now, and that's why more people are getting infected," Thijs Kuiken said.
Most had contact with birds
On October 4, the WHO released a statement in which it explained that most of these cases had occurred in people who had contact with birds, without detecting any person-to-person contagion. Anyway, he called for an urgent investigation to analyze the risk and the increase of contagion to people.
In addition, on October 13, a 60-year-old woman was admitted in critical condition to a hospital in Hunan province with H5N6 influenza. And while cases of H5N6 have been reported in humans, no outbreaks of H5N6 have been reported in poultry in China since February 2020.
Four of the detected cases had raised poultry at home and had been in contact with dead birds, according to a September report from the CDC. Another had bought a duck at a live bird market a week before developing symptoms.
Backyard farms in China are common, and many people still prefer to buy live chickens in the markets. The city of Guilin in the Guangxi region, which had two human cases in August, announced last month that it had suspended trade in live poultry in 13 urban markets and will ban it within a year.
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