Considerations for Starting Mass Production of H5N1 Avian Flu Vaccines

AUSTIN, Texas - Aug. 7, 2024 - PRLog -- How Dangerous is Avian Flu, Officially Known as "Highly pathogenic avian influenza A H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b genotype B3.13."?

Dr. Jennifer Nuzzo, a senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), and Dr. Rick Bright, former CEO of the Pandemic Prevention Institute at the Rockefeller Foundation and director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) recently discussed the growing risk of avian influenza spreading in North America among poultry, dairy cows – and a small number of farm workers in direct contact with infected animals.

Dr. Nuzzo reminds us that this disease, called Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) influenza virus H5N1, is a closely related strain of the H1N1 influenza A virus that infected an estimated 500 million people worldwide during the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918-1920 – resulting in an estimated 17 to 50 million people dying from the virus.

Recent History of H5N1

Today's H5N1 virus (and its related H7 and H9 variants) was first identified back in the 1990s, initially detected among geese. In 1997, it crossed over the species barrier to infect about 18 humans in Hong Kong, killing 6. Public health officials successfully contained this outbreak by conducting a mass bird cull at chicken farms and closing live markets.

However, the virus continued to spread under the radar, circulating among wild birds and later domesticated ducks. Humans once again became infected with H5N1 starting in 2003 and continuing until today. In this period, about 900 human cases have been detected, with an alarmingly high mortality rate of 60%. In Dr. Nuzzo's view, this very high mortality rate makes H5N1 a potentially much deadlier virus than Covid 19.

Are We Adequately Prepared this Time to Respond to a Deadly Avian Flu Outbreak? Are We One Mutation Away from Disaster?

Dr. Bright expressed his concern about the way that the H5N1 virus continues to spread around the world, often in regions where it was not expected.

Contributing to this proliferation is the way the virus is establishing a viral reservoir in a growing number of species, spreading beyond chickens and ducks to now infect wild birds and other species of mammals, including cattle, goats, cats, coyotes, pumas, leopards, foxes, opossums, squirrels, skunks, raccoons, bears, and seals.

The transmission of H5N1 to cattle, confirmed at a Texas dairy farm in March 2024, was both unwelcome and unexpected – Bright said that until now influenza A infections have not been reported in cows.

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