Stay alert to new pandemic risk after Russian bird flu cases, warn Chinese experts

The first human infections from a highly infectious influenza virus needs constant vigilance, the pair warn in a letter to Science magazine

Public health specialists say increased monitoring of poultry farms, markets and wild birds will be needed

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Two strains of bird flu have been detected in dozens of countries. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 9:30pm, 25 May 2021Updated: 11:26pm, 25 May 2021

Two leading Chinese infectious disease experts have warned of the risk of a new pandemic after the first human infections from a highly pathogenic strain of bird flu were discovered in Russia.

In a letter published in Science magazine, Gao Fu, director of the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, and Shi Weifeng, dean of public health at Shandong First Medical University, called for increased surveillance at poultry farms, markets and wild birds as the Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted usual medical consultation and disease monitoring.

“Eurasia and Africa are experiencing a new wave of highly pathogenic H5Ny avian influenza virus outbreaks,” the authors wrote in the letter, published last Friday.

“The zoonotic potential of avian influenza viruses warrants continuous, vigilant monitoring to avert further spillovers that could result in disastrous pandemics.”

Bird and swine flu are both caused by the influenza A virus, the only type of flu virus that can lead to a pandemic.

The H5 subgroup of influenza A was first identified in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong in 1996. Gao and Shi said at least eight more strains of H5 had been detected since then, most of which could infect humans.