Scientific experts say the discovery of two cases in poultry farm workers in England shows how surveillance of the virus is working, but the H5N1 strain needs to be closely monitored janemerrick23 reports
Dr Tom Peacock, fellow at the Pirbright Institute, said: “It appears there are still open questions about whether these were genuine infections or exposure to contaminated material.
Bird flu in humans has a very high case fatality rate of between 40 and 50 per cent, but this number could be inaccurate due to the small number of cases and inflated due to a bias towards those who develop very serious disease, scientists believe. Scientists studying avian influenza are monitoring closely any sign that the virus is mutating to become potentially transmissible between people. It is highly infectious among birds, and– although the animals were in captivity or in close proximity.
“If it is an infection, it will be important to determine whether or not the virus shows the same changes as it has within wild mammals that allow the virus to replicate in these better as it crosses over from birds – hopefully not the case as there were no symptoms and no transmission has yet been identified.
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