The deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu has reached Europe, according to British laboratories. The three infected dead ducks were carrying the more virulent strain of the avian flu virus, said a spokesman for the UK Dept for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
Scientists in the UK are trying to find the origin of this Romanian infection and to see whether it is linked to the outbreak in Turkey.
The European Commission is taking all measures to make sure there is as little contact as possible between agricultural poultry and wild birds.
The greatest fear is that this H5N1 virus could mutate and become a disease which spreads from human-to-human. The Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918 was such a virus – it evolved from a bird flu strain, rapidly spread around the world and probably killed about 50 million people. The world population at that time was much smaller than today.
Half of the deaths during the 1918 pandemic were young, healthy adults. That pandemic spread around the world rapidly. Many believe a pandemic today would spread much faster as people travel internationally (and domestically) a great deal more.
Humans have no natural immunity against a new strain of flu virus evolved from bird flu.
No human cases of bird flu have been reported in either Turkey or Romania.
Humans catch the present bird flu virus from birds. Those in constant close contact with an infected patient can also become infected. However, so far, the virus does not then go on to infect people outside hospitals – if the virus evolved (mutated), it would.
Written by: Christian Nordqvist
Editor: Medical News Today