The situation related to avian flu "
is worrying
", estimated Friday a person in charge of the WHO, the epidemiologist Sylvie Briand.
A Cambodian, whose little girl died of bird flu, has also just tested positive.
The announcement worries the World Health Organization (WHO), which warns however that it is too early to evoke a transmission between humans.
This is the first time the agency has expressed this level of concern since the start of the current outbreak of avian flu, which is caused by the H5N1 virus and has led to the culling of tens of millions of birds worldwide. For more than one year.
However, the WHO does not change its position as to the risk for humans.
It remains "
weak
", because no element has yet proven a greater danger of seeing a new pandemic emerge after the Covid.
Transmission between humans?
Recent news explains WHO's fears.
In Cambodia, an eleven-year-old girl died a few days ago of avian flu.
The child, from a remote village in the province of Prey Veng (Southeast), fell ill in mid-February with symptoms of fever, cough and dry throat.
She died less than a week later at a children's hospital in the capital Phnom Penh, the kingdom's first bird flu-related death in nine years.
It is not this drama which, in itself, explains the concerns of the experts: the sporadic cases are well documented in humans - just under 900 for 20 years - and, if they are very deadly, they are usually caused by direct transmission from a bird.
The novelty here is the announcement this Friday by the Cambodian authorities that the girl's father has also tested positive for H5N1.
This opens up the hypothesis of transmission between humans and, therefore, potentially a risk of an epidemic.
“
We inevitably wonder what happened: could the first case have transmitted the disease to other humans?
“, admitted Sylvie Briand, responsible for the prevention of pandemics within the WHO.
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Ongoing investigations
Still, “
for the moment, it is too early to know if it is a transmission between humans or if it is linked to common exposure to the same environment
”, she nuanced.
One can, in fact, widely imagine that both the father and the daughter were contaminated through contact with animals.
In any case, dead wild birds were found near a lake near the village where the affected family lives.
The situation therefore remains uncertain and the WHO is closely monitoring the investigations carried out in Cambodia to trace the origin of the cases.
In the event that transmission is confirmed between humans, the agency promises that a series of measures would be ready to be immediately implemented to prevent a spread.
It would first be a question of "
treating (and) isolating
" the declared cases, identifying the people who have been in contact with them and administering antivirals to them, detailed Sylvie Briand.
“
And of course, we will consider a possible extension of contamination, by preparing neighboring regions and countries
” for the possibility of transmission between humans, she added.
Vigilance without alarmism
The Cambodian cases add to other evidence that has recently raised concerns that the virus could cause outbreaks beyond just birds.
In Spain, a farm of 50,000 mink had to be slaughtered after multiple cases of avian flu.
In Russia, seals have tested positive for the disease, after 2,500 of them were found dead near the Caspian Sea.
In both cases, particularly in Spain, it is suspected that the infection took place between mammals.
But this hypothesis remains to be confirmed and many experts call for vigilance without alarmism.
“
The risk remains very low for humans, but it is important to continue to monitor the circulation of the virus in birds and mammals, doing everything to reduce the number of infections”, virologist Jonathan Ball
reacted to Friday. from the Science Media Center.