Bird flu: UK's plan to vaccinate chickens against bird flu as human risk 'monitored'
Science
UK's plan to vaccinate chickens against bird flu as risk to humans 'monitored weekly'
A vaccination programme for birds would represent a big change in UK policy with the World Health Organisation saying that the world "must prepare".
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08:26, Thu, Mar 2, 2023
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08:46, Thu, Mar 2, 2023
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The UK is considering vaccinating poultry against bird flu
(Image: Getty )
The Government is mulling over a plan to vaccinatethe countrys poultry flock against bird fluas it scrambles to curb the spread of the worst-ever outbreak. The current global bird flu outbreak is the most severe ever seen and experts are reportedly reviewing the risk of the virus transmission to people every week.
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While the virus has not yet mutated to enable human-to-human transmission, it has been found in otters and foxes across the UK. This raised concerns that another mutation or two could threaten to trigger the next pandemic.
At present, there is a ban on vaccinating birds against the H5N1 strain of bird flu. But with tens of millions of birds at risk and more than 200 million already dying, the Government may be forced to enact a major change of policy.
While cases in the UK are being looked at, Professor Ian Brown, scientific services director at the governments Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA), has warned that the global spread is particularly concerning.
He noted that the recent incidents of mass deaths in seals in the Caspian Sea and sea lions in Peru could signal mammal-to-mammal transmission. This would put the word in new territory and bring the prospect of a new pandemic closer.
Millions of birds have been culled
(Image: Getty )
While the virus has been found in UK mammals, evidence suggests they were cases of bird-to-mammal transmission. There have been more than 200 cases recorded in mammals, including grizzly bears, mink, dolphins and seals.
But bird flu has in fact been jumping from birds from all sorts of different mammals, including whales even, Dr Justine Butler, head of research atViva!, previously told Express.co.uk
But what was more concerning was an investigation into a bird flu outbreak at a Spanish mink farm, which found evidence of mink-to-mink transmission.
Dr Butler said: They think the virus may have mutated to make it more easily transmissible between mammals. That is a concern. Once it spreads between one group of mammals, there is a possibility that it will be transmitted to humans and that could herald the next pandemic, which is really concerning.
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Thursday, March 2, 2023 at 8:26 am