As the more virulent H5N1 strain of bird flu enters Europe via Romania and possibly Greece as well, the European Union is now talking about a global threat.
Markos Kyprianou, EU Health Commissioner, reminded Europeans that the arrival of bird flu in Europe does not mean the flu pandemic is here. The risk of a human catching bird flu is still very small, he said. He said the European Union will prepare properly for a possible flu pandemic.
Many European countries do not have the required stocks of antiviral drugs to cover 25% of their population. Some have, the United Kingdom has enough to cover over 30% of its population.
The European Union is working with pharmaceutical companies to find a way of significantly increasing the number of people who will be vaccinated against normal flu this autumn (fall). Both are finding ways of building up manufacturing capacity, said EU Kyprianou. He admitted that the level of vaccination preparedness was lower than they had wished.
If as many people as possible are vaccinated against normal flu, the chances of the bird flu virus mutating are lessened. The most likely way the bird flu virus may mutate is by infecting a person who has the flu – the two types of viruses (normal flu and bird flu) would then have the chance to exchange genes and create a new strain. This new strain could be a mutation of the dangerous H5N1 bird flu virus which could then spread from human-to-human, this would be the birth a new flu pandemic – a very dangerous one for all of us on this planet. The present bird flu virus strains can only be passed easily from bird to human – a mutated strain would easily pass from human to human. It is true that humans can catch bird flu from another human, but not easily, a lot of contact is needed – as with the case of some health professionals in South East Asia who were caring for a patient infected with bird flu. However, they did not then go on to infect other humans.
Written by: Christian Nordqvist
Editor: Medical News Today