WHO says bird flu risk ‘still low’ after US reports first human death

The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday that the risk of avian flu to the general population remains “low”.

Their assessment comes after the United States reported its first human death from the disease, caused by the H5N1 virus.

WHO spokesperson Dr. Margaret Harris told reporters in Geneva that the H5N1 virus is “not circulating in humans, but jumping into humans who are exposed” to poultry or dairy cattle. “We’re not seeing sustained circulation,” she explained.

The patient who died of the disease in Louisiana was over 65 and reportedly had underlying medical conditions, she added. According to the health authorities, he had been exposed to chickens and wild birds.

Several dozens of people in the US have contracted avian influenza during the current outbreak, mainly farmworkers in close contact with poultry flocks and cattle herds.

Harris added that the United States was continuing to carry out “a lot of surveillance” in the human and animal population, “in the methods we use for farming, for our food production… all those things need to be combined because indeed it always does pose a risk.”

Reports of bird flu cases also rose in Europe towards the end of last year, although numbers remained lower than in previous years. According to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), some 657 cases were recorded in Europe.

In France, a bird flu outbreak was reported in December on two farms in Normandy, a week after being officially declared free of the virus.

Its impact has been less severe than in the United States, where flock losses have led to record egg prices.