U.N. Warns of Spreading H5N1 Bird Flu

The U.N. has issued a warning that a mutant strain of the H5N1 bird flu virus, resistant to existing vaccinations, has begun to spreading throughout China and Vietnam.
In a press release issued today out of Rome, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned that recent wild bird migrations have brought the deadly H5N1 virus back into countries that have remained free of the bird flu virus for years. Along with other factors, the migrations could lead to a possible resurgence of the bird flu virus, prompting the FAO to urge nations to increase surveillance to ensure containment of any outbreaks.
The H5N1 Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza virus has now been reintroduced in to such countries as Bulgaria, Romania, Mongolia, Nepal, Israel, and the Palestinian territories. Just last week, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported the bird-flu related death of a 6-year-old Cambodian girl, who became the eighth person to die from H5N1 avian influenza in Cambodia this year. The WHO has also reported that there have been 565 confirmed cases of H5N1 in humans, as well as 331 deaths, since the emergence of the virus in 2003.
The U.N. said that although outbreaks among both poultry and wild bird populations were greatly diminished from a height of 4,000 down to 302 in mid-2008, outbreaks have steadily been rising in number since that time, reaching nearly 800 reported cases reported in 2010-2011. Even though the virus was virtually eliminated from nearly all of the 63 countries infected by the H5N1 virus by its peak in 2006, it has remained prevalent in Bangladesh, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia and Vietnam.
In Vietnam, this year’s springtime poultry vaccination was suspended, and the majority of northern and central parts of the country where the virus is widespread have been assaulted by the new strain of bird flu.
According to FAO chief veterinary officer Juan Lubroth, “Wild birds may introduce the virus, but people’s actions in poultry production and marketing spread it.” In a statement, he warned, “The general departure from the progressive decline in 2004-2008 could mean that there will be a flare-up of H5N1 this fall and winter, with people unexpectedly finding the virus in their backyard.”Source:healthnews