Bird Flu Threat Shouldn't Be Ignored, Say Health Experts

TaiwanPlus News

Possible cases of cattle in the U.S. being reinfected with bird flu is one of several factors causing alarm among health experts, who warn the virus could potentially trigger the next global pandemic if left unchecked.

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00:00Concerns are growing among health experts

00:02over increasing evidence that bird flu is evolving

00:05and that ignoring those signs

00:06could lead to the next global pandemic.

00:08Both the US and Taiwan Centers for Disease Control

00:11say bird flu remains a low risk to the public.

00:14But after cattle in the US state of Idaho

00:16recently showed signs of a possible reinfection

00:18of the H5N1 strain of the virus,

00:20some are describing the disease's trajectory

00:22as a high-risk scenario.

00:24Bird flu was first recorded jumping to US dairy cattle

00:27just last spring,

00:28and its potential to circulate indefinitely among herds

00:31could lead to a strain of the virus

00:32that's more dangerous for humans.

00:35Hundreds of bird flu infections in humans

00:37have already been recorded

00:38with a dangerously high mortality rate.

00:40And although no person-to-person transmissions

00:42have been reported yet,

00:44the WHO warns that could all change.

00:46H5N1 is of particular concern

00:48because since the first human cases were reported in 2003,

00:54it has killed almost half of those it has struck.

00:57Fortunately, H5N1 has not yet developed the ability

01:02to transmit easily between humans,

01:05but that could be only a matter of time.

01:09Here in Taiwan, over 100,000 birds

01:12have been culled in the last few weeks

01:13after several outbreaks in the South.

01:15Speaking to Taiwan Plus,

01:16the deputy director of Taiwan's CDC, Cheng Shuhui,

01:20said they're working closely with local farmers

01:22and other countries to keep tabs on the disease

01:24and confirm that local cases remain exclusive to birds.

01:27While governments say the disease poses little risk as is,

01:30alarm bells are ringing over emerging similarities

01:33between bird flu and other pandemic-level diseases,

01:36with health experts warning,

01:37now is a time to apply the lessons

01:39we've learned from the COVID-19 pandemic

01:41and that, as always, prevention is the best medicine.

01:44Hank Xu, Reese Ayers, and Kayden Sciranta for Taiwan Plus.

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