A recent discovery of the human case Bird flu H5N1 in Canada is sounding the alarm about the possibility of a new pandemic. A teenager in British Columbia remains in critical condition with acute respiratory distress after testing positive for the virus, which is a new strain in Canada.
The teenager, whose identity and age have not been released, had reportedly never had any health problems and was perfectly healthy before the illness struck, according to a report aired on NBC’s daily news show. During a press briefing, Dr. Bonnie Henry, British Columbia’s provincial health official, said the teenager had no direct contact with birds or animals, but did interact with pets such as dogs, cats and reptiles. The cause of the disease has not yet been identified.
The Public Health Agency of Canada confirmed that the patient was suffering from the H5N1 strain of bird flu, which has spread among birds and poultry and infected mammals, sometimes infecting humans. This incident follows a larger outbreak in the United States, where 46 people have died human infections have been registered this year in several states such as California, Colorado and Texas. Most of these cases involve direct contact with infected animals, but health officials are closely monitoring how the virus spreads.
What is bird flu H5N1?
Avian influenza or bird flu mainly affects birds, but sometimes they also infect other animals and humans. H5N1 is just one subtype of the bird flu virus that has infected several people since its identification in 1997. According to the National Library of Medicine, bird flu viruses can affect birds and humans. Although cases caused by H5N1 have faced serious outbreaks among birds around the world, it is relatively less dangerous to humans because it cannot be easily transmitted from person to person.
As Dr. Amesh Adaja of the Johns Hopkins Health Center noted, H5N1 has had plenty of time to change since it was first identified, and it does not spread easily between people. “I don’t think this is the most dangerous strain of bird flu,” he told TODAY. “You can’t say it’s zero risk. But for bird flu, it’s less risk.”
Dr. Ian Lipkin, an expert on viral threats at Columbia University, echoed that sentiment, stressing that while the virus could potentially evolve to become more transmissible, so far it hasn’t. “Could this virus evolve to become more transmissible? Yes. Has it been so far? No,” he warned.
Will it lead to a pandemic?
Experts agree that the likelihood of a pandemic caused by H5N1 is still low because the virus is still fairly poorly transmitted from person to person. While there is concern about different strains of bird flu potentially causing pandemics in the future, Adalya noted that H7N9 is a more pressing concern. This strain was first reported in humans in China in 2013 and caused severe illness in those infected. While surveillance by organizations such as the CDC will continue, Adaja said proactive measures are preferable to a lockdown if H5N1 is proven to pose a serious health threat. “Locking is a very blunt tool,” he says. More tactical approaches would include, for example, better testing of farm animals.
While experts have commented on the possibility of a shutdown due to bird flu-related outbreaks, they do not believe this is a likely scenario for H5N1, as it does not pose a serious health threat. Lipkin noted that if H5N1 becomes a major public health problem that requires containment strategies, there will be a debate about how far authorities will go to implement such measures.
Overall, experts say the threat of a pandemic directly caused by H5N1 is low, although it remains a source of concern for causing illness in animals and humans.
