Two unusual bird flu infections among humans were reported recently — one from Mexico, where a new strand infected a person, and the other from India’s West Bengal where a known viral strand infected a child. While the Mexican patient died of bird flu, the Indian child survived the infection. Against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic that brought the world to its knees and amid predictions that a bigger viral pandemic may strike the globe anytime, the bird flu cases have left many wondering if this could be the next public health threat.
We spoke to India’s top virologist Dr Shahid Jameel to understand the threat the bird flu viruses may pose to humans. Excerpts: How does bird flu spread to humans? Is consuming poultry products a common way of getting infected? Consuming poultry is not usually a common way of getting infected because we cook the meat before eating. So in case the product is infected with the virus, it gets killed very quickly.
However, people selling poultry, people preparing the bird and also people who are in poultry farming and very close contact with lots of birds are primarily vulnerable. India’s domestic poultry is simply a carrier of the bird flu virus as of now. The virus is endemic largely in migratory birds.
But then you know when birds migrate they do leave their droppings and that’s how domestic poultry gets infected. The transmission to humans of the bird flu virus is very rare and difficult. Having said that, there are two kinds of.