Bird Flu Virus Could Lead to Pandemic Worse Than COVID

The bird flu virus spreading among wild birds, poultry, and mammals could lead to a pandemic worse than COVID-19 if it mutates to transmit between humans, the head of France’s Institut Pasteur respiratory infections center said, Sybille de la Hamaide and Lucien Libert reported for Reuters.

People have antibodies against common H1 and H3 seasonal flu strains, but none against the H5 bird flu now affecting birds and mammals.

The highly pathogenic avian influenza, commonly called bird flu, has led to the culling of hundreds of millions of birds in recent years, disrupting food supplies and driving up prices, though human infections remain rare.

“What we fear is the virus adapting to mammals, and particularly to humans, becoming capable of human-to-human transmission, and that virus would be a pandemic virus,” said Marie-Anne Rameix-Welti, medical director at the Institut Pasteur’s respiratory infections center.

The Institut Pasteur was among the first European labs to develop and share COVID-19 detection tests, making protocols available to the World Health Organization and labs worldwide.

People have antibodies against common H1 and H3 seasonal flu strains, but none against the H5 bird flu now affecting birds and mammals — similar to the lack of immunity to COVID-19 early in the pandemic, she noted.

And unlike COVID-19, which mainly affects vulnerable populations, flu viruses can also kill healthy individuals, including children, Rameix-Welti said.

“A bird flu pandemic would probably be quite severe, potentially even more severe than the pandemic we experienced,” she said in her Paris laboratory.