Asia -Europe notifications have more risk of human infection with severe bird flu epid

(Paris Comprehensive) The World Animal Health Organization warned on Wednesday that Asia and Europe have recently reported many serious bird flu epidemic. As more mutant strains appear, human infection risks have become greater.

The spread of high -pathological bird flu has attracted the attention of the government and the poultry industry.The previous outbreaks caused tens of millions of birds to be cracked and faced with trade restrictions.

Elat, Director -General of the World Animal Health Organization, said in an interview with Reuters on Wednesday: "The situation this time is more difficult and the risks are even greater, because we see more varieties.It's more difficult to track. "

She said:" The ultimate risk is that it will mutate, or it mix with the human influenza virus that can spread between people, and then suddenly present a new dimension"

Data show that between October and December last year, 15 countries notified the avian influenza epidemic, most of which were H5N1 virus strains.In European countries, the situation in Italy is the most severe. A total of 285 bird flu epidemic occurred, and nearly 4 million birds were killed.

The bird flu epidemic usually starts to outbreak in autumn because the virus will spread through the migrating wild birds.

The World Animal Health Organization said that H5N1 is one of the few bird flu virus strains that have been passed on to humans. At present, about 850 people have been infected, and half of them are dying.

Last year, several people in China were infected with the H5N6 virus strain, which attracted the attention of some experts. They believed that the previously popular virus strain seemed to have changed, which may be more contagious.

However, Ericed emphasized that most countries have learned to control the epidemic, and because avian influenza is usually transmitted closely through close contact, human infection cases will only occur.

"If one, two or three people are infected, it is worrying, but there is no need to make a warning prematurely to the risk of spreading. This will depend on how people are infected."