LONDON - The world's leading experts on influenza met this week to discuss the threat posed to humans by a strain of H5N1 avian flu that has caused record numbers of bird deaths around the world in recent months. The group of scientists, regulators and vaccine manufacturers meets twice a year to decide which strain of seasonal flu to include...
A person holds a test tube labelled Bird Flu, in this picture illustration, on Jan 14, 2023.LONDON - The world's leading experts on influenza met this week to discuss the threat posed to humans by a strain of H5N1 avian flu that has caused record numbers of bird deaths around the world in recent months.
But it is also a chance to discuss the risk of animal viruses spilling over to humans and causing a pandemic. At this week's meeting, H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b was a key topic, the World Health Organisation and global flu experts told Reuters. They will brief reporters on both the seasonal flu vaccine composition and spillover risks later on Friday .
Experts have been tracking H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b since it emerged in 2020, but recent reports of mass deaths in infected mammals from seals to bears, as well as potential mammal-to-mammal transmission on a Spanish mink farm last year, have raised concern.
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