Human bird flu epidemic is ‘on the horizon,’ says expert

A severe and fast-spreading strain of bird flu has spread among British birds, infecting and killing more birds than ever before across the country.

While charities are warning the public to avoid seeing dead birds, experts are warning that this flu, or another like it, could one day infect humans.

About 22 million birds were infected with bird flu last year, twice the normal rate. This bird flu, a particularly aggressive strain called ‘H5N1’, is believed to be responsible for the disease.

This strain not only spreads rapidly, but also kills large numbers of birds. Millions of chickens have also been culled to curb the outbreak.

The Cornwall Wildlife Trust warned the public last week to stay away from dead seabirds.

“Due to the high risk and severity of bird flu, do not touch or handle animals under any circumstances,” the organization wrote in a Facebook post.

This is because, although very rare, bird flu can infect humans. Avian flu can also infect humans very quickly, as was the case with the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic.

What is the probability that bird flu will infect humans?

Right now, the chances of getting H5N1 bird flu are very low. In fact, only 860 people have been infected with the virus since 2003.

Dr Simon Clarke, a microbiologist at the University of Reading, says the number of cases is very low because the current strain is difficult to transmit from person to person.

To learn to infect humans more easily, it would probably have to spread to another animal that looks more like humans than birds.

“It is not ruled out that it could jump and spread between people. It is likely that it is passing through another animal, such as a pig,” he told MailOnline.

“Pigs are just like us, and we can see the situation in developing countries, where infection control protocols are less rigorous and crossbreeding occurs because we farm pigs intensively.”

Clark and other experts agree that recurring seasonal flu is likely behind the next pandemic.

But some experts say a worsening of the winter flu season could increase the risk of bird flu spreading to humans.

Keith Neal, disease expert and professor emeritus at the University of Nottingham, told MailOnline:

But high levels of both viruses increase “interaction and high genetic variation,” he said.

This could improve the ability of the virus to spread to humans.

“When two influenza viruses infect the same cell at the same time, the genetic material starts to change,” explained Professor Paul Hunter, an infectious disease expert at the University of East Anglia.

“In the past, this has led to genetic changes that could lead to pandemics.”

But that doesn’t mean it will happen soon.

Hunter said MailOnline’s bird flu will likely lead to another human outbreak one day. But it is impossible to know when that will be.

These are all very random events and you can’t predict when they will occur.

Neil said that while the common flu is likely to cause the next pandemic, avian flu remains a major concern because it lacks natural defenses.