New bird flu could be 2022’s pandemic, Israeli experts warn
Israel’s National Security Council (NSC) has assumed control of a massive bird flu outbreak in Galilee, which scientists warn could become a “mass disaster” for humans. Over half a billion migrating birds pass through the area every year, heading for warm African countries or balmy European summers, making this a catastrophic location for a major […]
Israel’s National Security Council (NSC) has assumed control of a massive bird flu outbreak in Galilee, which scientists warn could become a “mass disaster” for humans.
Over half a billion migrating birds pass through the area every year, heading for warm African countries or balmy European summers, making this a catastrophic location for a major bird flu outbreak – right at the nexus of global avian travel.
The virus can be deadly if it infects people. The World Health Organization (WHO) has said more than half of the confirmed 863 human cases it had tracked since 2003 proved fatal. Most strains or variants of avian flu, H5N1, are relatively difficult to transmit to people.
“It is the ability of “these viruses to mutate into new strains that poses such a threat as we have seen with the coronavirus (COVID-19).
“There could be a mutation that also infects people and turns into a mass disaster,” said Yossi Leshem, a zoologist at Tel Aviv University and Director of the International Centre for the Study of Bird Migration at Latrun.
So far, at least 5,400 wild cranes have died infected with the new H5N1 avian flu, which Israeli authorities fear could expand into a global emergency.
Of the 30,000 Eurasian cranes passing this winter at the Hula Nature Reserve, 17 per cent are dead, and scientists fear the worst for their surviving lot, at least 10,000 of which appear to be ailing. The infection of the cranes is the same strain of avian flu which infected chickens throughout Northern Israel and led to the cull in recent days of nearly one million birds.
Israelis will be without their beloved chicken schnitzel – and without eggs – until a supply chain of imported birds is established.
Source: Yahoonews