Global health officials are sounding renewed alarms over avian influenza, with researchers at the Pasteur Institute warning the current strain poses a pandemic risk potentially exceeding that of COVID-19. While human cases remain limited – with 71 reported in the U.S. as of mid-September and one fatality [[1]] – the virus’s rapid spread among birds and increasing detection in mammals raises concerns about its potential to mutate and become easily transmissible between people [[2]], [[3]]. This report details the findings of those researchers and the growing concerns within the scientific community.
A highly contagious bird flu virus has the potential to trigger a global pandemic more severe than the COVID-19 crisis, according to researchers at the Pasteur Institute in France. The warning highlights the ongoing threat of zoonotic diseases – those that jump from animals to humans – and the importance of pandemic preparedness.
The virus, currently circulating among birds and poultry, has already led to the culling of hundreds of millions of birds worldwide in recent years, disrupting food supplies and driving up white meat prices. While human infections remain rare, experts are concerned about the virus’s potential to mutate and become easily transmissible between people.
“What we fear is that the virus adapts to mammals, and especially to humans, and becomes capable of being transmitted from person to person, and that this virus becomes epidemic,” said Marie-Anne Ramix-Willette, the medical director at the Pasteur Institute’s Respiratory Infections Center.
The institute was among the first European laboratories to develop and share testing protocols for COVID-19, providing crucial tools for the World Health Organization and laboratories globally. This experience underscores the importance of rapid diagnostic development in responding to emerging infectious diseases.
Currently, people possess antibodies against common seasonal avian influenza strains H1 and H3, but lack immunity to the H5 strain affecting birds and mammals. They also lack antibodies developed through prior COVID-19 infection, leaving populations potentially vulnerable to a novel outbreak.
“It is likely that an avian influenza pandemic would be very severe, perhaps more severe than the pandemic we experienced five years ago,” Ramix-Willette concluded. The assessment emphasizes the need for continued surveillance and research into avian influenza viruses to mitigate potential risks to public health.
