A health expert has warned of the potential for another pandemic following the death of one person in Mexico. The former director of the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Robert Redfield, revealed that the next pandemic could be from bird flu.
Mortality rates would likely be much higher than COVID-19, he said, ranging from 25 to 50 percent, compared to just 0.6 percent.
It comes as the World Health Organisation recently announced the first human death from bird flu in Mexico, and the virus has been found in cattle across the US.
Speaking to NewsNation, Redfield said: “I really do think it’s very likely that we will, at some time, it’s not a question of if, it’s more of a question of when we will have a bird flu pandemic.”
In May, the CDC reported that a third person had been diagnosed with bird flu since March.
All three cases were found in farmworkers but were unrelated.
The third patient suffered respiratory complications and eye discomfort with watery discharge.
It is believed they became ill following direct exposure to an infected cow.
According to the US Department of Agriculture, at least 67 livestock herds in nine states have been infected.
These include Michigan, Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Kansas, Idaho, South Dakota, Ohio and North Carolina.
So far it is thought the disease cannot spread between humans.
However, researchers have discovered that five amino acids have to change their key receptor in order for bird flu to be able to connect to a human receptor, allowing it to spread between humans like Covid.
“Once the virus gains the ability to attach to the human receptor and then go human to human, that’s when you’re going to have the pandemic,” Redfield said.
“I think it’s just a matter of time.”
Redfield added that he doesn’t know how long it will take for the necessary amino acids to change.
He argued that the more severe risk is that the virus could be grown in a lab.
“I know exactly what amino acids I have to change because in 2012, against my recommendation, the scientists that did these experiments actually published them,” he said.
“So, the recipe for how to make bird flu highly infectious for humans is already out there.”
To avoid becoming infected with bird flu, CDC recommends that:
- People should avoid exposures to sick or dead animals
- People should also avoid exposures to animal poo, bedding (litter), unpasteurized (“raw”) milk, or materials that have been touched by, or close to, birds or other animals with suspected or confirmed virus
- People should not drink raw milk
- People who have job-related contact with infected or potentially infected birds or other animals should be aware of the risk of exposure to avian influenza viruses and should take proper precautions.
The NHS says that main symptoms of bird flu can appear very quickly and include:
- A very high temperature or feeling hot or shivery
- Aching muscles
- Headache
- A cough or shortness of breath.
Other early symptoms may include:
- Diarrhoea
- Sickness
- Stomach pain
- Chest pain
- Bleeding from the nose and gums
- Conjunctivitis.
It usually takes three to five days for the first symptoms to appear after you’ve been infected.