Feb. 10, 2023

The World Health Organisation (WHO), on Friday announced that over the past few weeks there have been many reports of mammals, including minks, otters, foxes and sea lions, being infected with H5N1 avian influenza.

Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, stated this during the bloc’s online media conference.

He noted that the H5N1 had spread widely in wild birds and poultry for 25 years, but the recent spillover to mammals needed to be monitored closely.

Ghebreyesus, however, disclosed that at the moment, WHO had assessed the risk to humans as low.

He said that since H5N1 first emerged in 1996, they had only seen rare and non-sustained transmission of H5N1 to and between humans.

“But we cannot assume that will remain the case, and we must prepare for any change in the status quo.

“As always, people are advised not to touch or collect dead or sick wild animals, but to report to local authorities.

“WHO is working with national authorities and partners to monitor the situation closely, and to study cases of H5N1 infection in humans when they occur,” he said.

WHO’s global laboratory network, the Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System, identifies and monitors strains of circulating influenza viruses, and provides advice to countries on their risk to human health and available treatment or control measures.

WHO recommends countries strengthen surveillance in settings where humans and farmed or wild animals interact.

“WHO is also continuing to engage with manufacturers to make sure that if needed, supplies of vaccines and antivirals would be available for global use.