The WHO recently warning that bird flu spillover to mammals needs to be monitored closely and that countries need to be prepared for a potential outbreak affecting humans. University of Waterloo biologist Dr. Christine Dupont says Canada should heed that advice.
“This strain doesn’t seem like just a regular bird influenza,” Dupont says. “It’s a highly pathogenic avian influenza. Bird influenza is common, and these viruses evolve quickly. It’s monitored intensely because there is potential for bird flu to become a human pandemic.
In recent months there have been reports of bird flu spillover infecting mammal species like mink and seals. A spillover is when a virus “jumps” from one species to another.
“Spillover events are a worry, especially when you’ve got a virus like this, that’s highly pathogenic and causing infection in a lot of different organ tissues,” Dupont continues. “Pandemics we’ve had with influenza, like the swine flu and the Spanish flu, those all had their origins from spillover events that trace back to bird flu.”
Read more at the University of Waterloo
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