Health
Experts warn bird flu virus changing rapidly in largest ever outbreak
The virus causing record cases of avian influenza in birds across the world is changing rapidly, experts have warned, as calls increase for countries to vaccinate their poultry.
While emphasizing that the risk to humans remains low, the experts who spoke to AFP said that the surging number of bird flu cases in mammals was a cause for concern.
Since first emerging in 1996, the H5N1 avian influenza virus had previously been confined to mostly seasonal outbreaks.
But “something happened” in mid-2021 that made the group of viruses much more infectious, according to Richard Webby, the head of a World Health Organization collaborating center studying influenza in animals.
Since then, outbreaks have lasted all year round, spreading to new areas and leading to mass deaths among wild birds and tens of millions of poultry being culled, AFP reported.
Webby, who is a researcher at St Jude Children’s Research Hospital in the US city of Memphis, told AFP it was “absolutely” the largest outbreak of avian influenza the world had seen.
He led research, published this week in the journal Nature Communications, showing how the virus rapidly evolved as it spread from Europe into North America.
The study said the virus increased in virulence, which means it causes more dangerous disease, when it arrived in North America.
The researchers also infected a ferret with one of the new strains of bird flu.
They found an unexpectedly “huge” amount of the virus in its brain, Webby said, indicating it had caused more serious disease than previous strains.
Emphasizing that the risk in humans was still low, he said that “this virus is not being static, it’s changing”.
“That does increase the potential that even just by chance” the virus could “pick up genetic traits that allow it to be more of a human virus,” he said.
In rare cases, humans have contracted the sometimes deadly virus, usually after coming in close contact with infected birds.
The virus has also been detected in a soaring number of mammals, which Webby described as a “really, really troubling sign”.
Last week Chile said that nearly 9,000 sea lions, penguins, otters, porpoises and dolphins have died from bird flu along its north coast since the start of the year, AFP reported.
Most mammals are believed to have contracted the virus by eating an infected bird.
But Webby said that what “scares us the most” are indications from a Spanish mink farm, or among sea lions off South America, that the virus could be transmitting between mammals.
Ian Brown, virology head at the UK’s Animal and Plant Health Agency, said there has not yet been “clear evidence that this virus is easily sustaining in mammals.”
While the virus is changing to become “more efficient and more effective in birds,” it remains “unadapted to humans,” Brown told AFP.
Avian viruses bind to different receptors on the host cell than human viruses, Webby said.
It would take “two or three minor changes in one protein of the viruses” to become more adapted to humans, he said.
“That is what we’re really looking out for.”
Vaccinating poultry
One way to bring down the number of total bird flu cases, and therefore reduce the risk to humans, would be for countries to vaccinate their poultry, Webby said.
A few nations including China, Egypt and Vietnam have already held vaccination campaigns for poultry.
But many other countries have been reluctant due to import restrictions in some areas, and fears vaccinated birds that nonetheless get infected could slip through the net.
In April, the United States started testing several vaccine candidates for potential use on birds.
France recently said it hopes to start vaccinating poultry as early as autumn this year.
Christine Middlemiss, the UK’s chief veterinary officer, said that vaccinating poultry was not “a silver bullet because the virus changes constantly”.
But traditionally reluctant countries should consider vaccinating poultry more often, Middlemiss told AFP at an event at the UK’s embassy in Paris last week.
World Organisation for Animal Health director general Monique Eloit said that the issue of vaccinating poultry should be “on the table”.
After all, “everyone now knows that a pandemic is not just a fantasy — it could be a reality,” she added.
Since the launch of the new Afghan visa module in April 2025, more than 500 visas, including over 200 medical visas, have been issued in the last four months, Indian media reported citing a senior Health Ministry official on Thursday.
India has also approved and implemented several key healthcare infrastructure projects in Afghanistan, including the construction of five maternity and health clinics in the provinces of Paktia, Khost and Paktika, a 30-bed hospital in Kabul, and the construction or upgradation of major facilities such as an Oncology Centre, Trauma Centre, Diagnostic Centre and Thalassemia Centre in Kabul, The Hindu newspaper reported. Additional proposals for health sector support are currently under active consideration.
On Thursday, India reaffirmed its continued commitment to supporting Afghanistan’s health sector and humanitarian needs during a meeting held between Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare J.P. Nadda and Afghanistan’s Minister of Public Health Noor Jalal Jalali.
During the meeting, both sides reviewed ongoing health cooperation and discussed avenues to further strengthen collaboration in healthcare infrastructure, medical supplies and capacity building.
The Union Minister underlined that guided by India’s long-standing people-centric approach, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has always emphasised that India’s engagement with Afghanistan should remain focused on welfare, capacity building and access to critical healthcare services.
Nadda added that India’s assistance to Afghanistan remains guided by humanitarian considerations and the long-standing bonds between the peoples of the two countries.
“India has supplied 327 tonnes of medicines and vaccines to Afghanistan over the past four years. Cancer medicines and one CT scan machine, as requested by the Afghan Ministry of Public Health, are ready for dispatch and will be delivered by the end of this month. Proposals from the Afghan side for a radiotherapy machine and additional medical supplies are also being processed,” he said.
The meeting also discussed capacity-building initiatives. India is working on modalities to send a team of senior Indian doctors to Afghanistan to organise a medical camp and provide training to Afghan doctors.
“At the meeting, India has reiterated its commitment to providing free treatment in India to Afghan patients suffering from emergency and serious ailments, and to facilitating medical visas,” said an Indian Health Ministry official.
Afghanistan’s Minister of Public Health, Noor Jalal Jalali, has called for India’s cooperation in the standardization and development of traditional medicine during a meeting with India’s Minister for Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy (AYUSH), Prataprao Jadhav.
The meeting focused on establishing a traditional medicine institute and a research center in Kabul, cooperation in training qualified professionals, and the signing of a bilateral memorandum of understanding. Minister Jalali stressed that standardizing traditional medicine is a pressing priority for Afghanistan and noted that India’s extensive expertise in this field would be highly beneficial.
For his part, the AYUSH minister reaffirmed India’s commitment to supporting Afghanistan by assisting in the establishment of a research center and institute in Kabul, developing and implementing academic curricula, and expanding cooperation across various areas related to traditional medicine.
Noor Jalal Jalali, Minister of Public Health of Afghanistan, held a meeting in Kabul with representatives of the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the European Union, the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), and other international organizations.
According to the ministry’s statement, representatives of these international organizations discussed the delivery of health and development services, improving the management of aid and resources in the health sector, integrating health facilities and aligning them with the new policy, providing health services in accordance with the Ministry of Public Health’s policy, strengthening the immunization and vaccination sector, delivering services based on priorities, and ensuring sustained coordination.
During the meeting, Jalali stressed the need for transparency and attention to the ministry’s priorities in order to enhance the effectiveness and impact of health services. He added that the delivery of health services must be carried out in line with the ministry’s policy and through better management of existing international assistance.
Referring to vaccination campaigns, he stated that the recent measles and polio vaccination campaign had been implemented very successfully, and emphasized that necessary preparations should be made for upcoming campaigns.
He also provided information regarding the review of the BPHS and EPHS health packages and the establishment of a standardized system through technical committees.
In this meeting, Edwin Ceniza, the WHO Representative for Afghanistan, reaffirmed the organization’s continued cooperation with the Ministry of Public Health and expressed appreciation to the ministry’s leadership for their tireless efforts to improve the health system.
Representatives of these organizations pledged to maintain effective and sustained coordination and to provide their services within the country in accordance with the policies and principles of the Ministry of Public Health.
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