Avian flu alert as fears of human pandemic grow after new case discovered

CHILE has confirmed its first human case of bird flu, the country’s health ministry reported on Wednesday

The 53-year-old man developed severe flu symptoms but is now stable, according to a government official opinion.

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The government is also investigating the source of the outbreak – believed to be in the northern part of the country – as well as other people who have been in contact with the patient.

It comes just weeks after 40,000 poultry were killed in central Chile on Wednesday after the country discovered its first case of bird flu.

On Monday, health authorities in China reported a human bird flu infection – the third case since 2022.

The 56-year-old was said to have been in contact with live poultry before falling ill opinion by the local authorities.

So far, no similar infections have been reported in their contacts.

Earlier this year, an 11-year-old Cambodian girl died after catching a large infected fowl.

Scientists are urging the government to develop a new bird flu vaccine before the virus learns to spread more effectively to humans.

Experts fear the bug could mutate, making it even more harmful to humans than it currently is.

Fears have been raised in recent months over the “unprecedented” current outbreak, which has infected a variety of mammals – including otters and foxes – since October last year.

Last month, the UK government released Covid-style modeling to predict what could happen if the bug spread from person to person.

Under a “mild scenario,” scientists estimated that one in 400 people who contract bird flu would die.

While avian flu typically affects poultry and wild birds, it can be transmitted to mammals, including humans.

The H5N1 strain already has a mortality rate of around 50 percent in humans.

Only 870 people have contracted bird flu in the past 20 years – and 457 of them have died.

Avian flu has so far been diagnosed in just one person in the UK when Alan Gosling, 79, a retired engineer in Devon, caught it from ducks at his home in December 2021.