The world had not yet recovered from the three years in which Covid-19 claimed millions of lives when the World Health Organization (WHO) focused its attention on preparing for the possibility of a new pandemic caused by labour. H5N1 bird flu
It is a disease whose origin is animal, and especially in wild birds and fowls, in which it occurs chiefly; In recent months, however, infections have been detected in other mammals, such as foxes, otters, sea lions and sea lions.
Bird flu in humans
The transmission of this man to men is low, but not impossible. WHO himself reported on his website that between 2003 and 2002 there were 868 bird cases in different countries, of which 457 ended with the death of the patient, a matter related to the United Nations (WHO).
Bird flu in humans is not something new, the first confirmed case was in Hong Kong back in 1997 and was linked to an outbreak of chicken farms. Since then, cases have been recorded in Asia, Africa, Europe and America, until now it is considered safe by health authorities that the increase in human infections may occur suddenly.
On January 11 of this year, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) was alerted to the epidemiological situation due to the increase in cases in countries such as Canada, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, the United States, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Peru and Venezuela. Globally, the infection has been confirmed in other countries such as Cambodia, Britain, Spain, Portugal, and Ukraine.
In fact, on February 22, the first recorded human death with the H5N1 strain since 2014 was an 11-year-old Cambodian girl who had been ill for a week after coming into contact with infected birds; After her death, local authorities confirmed that at least a dozen relatives of the girl were also exposed and tested positive for bird flu.
Avian influenza H5N1: symptoms and forms of infection in humans
Tedros Adhanim, the director general of WHO, said at the end of February that the risk of the virus jumping to humans is still low, he stated that “we cannot assume that this will be the case and we must prepare for any changes in the status quo”, with the open possibility that animal-human infections will increase later and perhaps they will have a change in the conditions of human-to-human transmission.
Given this scenario, the authors asked countries to constantly monitor cases in birds and other animals to prevent infections in humans from avian diseases. But it is important to note that the H5N1 virus is not only known to have the ability to easily infect the upper respiratory tract of humans, according to Dr. Tim Uyeki, medical director of the Division of Influenza at the US Centers for Disease Control. and prevention (CDC).
Are there accidents in Mexico?
In January of this year, the National Agri-Food Health, Safety and Quality Service (Senasica) reported that although there were no outbreaks of the H5N1 avian agent in our country, chicken farms in Jalisco, Nuevo Leone were placed under internal quarantine. Sonora and Yucatan.
And just in the first days of March, several cases of chickens were also detected in the state of Aguascalientes, which were at least three farms in a separate entity, the same activities reported under the Ministry of Agriculture and Development. government.
But it is important to note that all cases of bird flu detected in our country do not correspond to humans.
According to the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), both wild birds and poultry infected with the H5N1 strain exhibit the following symptoms;
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