Experts sound alarm on avian flu as Australia reports human case – Times of India

Pune: Experts have sounded an alarm on the need for intensified, systematic and wider surveillance as well as the availability of genomic sequences related to avian influenza in public domain, after Australia reported its first-ever human case of the H5N1 bird flu strain in a child with a recent travel history to India.“With the child having travelled to India recently and the ongoing outbreaks in four Indian states, it is evident we need to look for potential outbreaks within our nation urgently,” said Dr Vinod Scaria, the genomic scientist who had first drawn attention to the Delta variant during Covid pandemic. Scaria said a wider and systematic genomic surveillance of H5N1 in poultry and animals akin to the Covid-19 genomic surveillance was missing. Australia had remained the sole continent unaffected by the deadly strain until now. “Currently, there is no information regarding where experts can access avian influenza genomic data in India,” said another expert.“Since genomic data has not been made publicly available from the H5N1 avian flu outbreaks reported in Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Kerala and Jharkhand, it becomes challenging to draw connections and understand the spread patterns comprehensively. Outbreaks in Kerala and Jharkhand are still going on,” he said, suggesting that the open sharing of genome sequences from the outbreak in public domain could provide insights into the epidemiology of current outbreaks.Dr Rajeev Jayadevan, chairman of the research cell of Indian Medical Association, Kerala, said, “India’s large geographical area includes wetlands and water bodies frequented by migratory birds carrying the HPAI virus, which can enter poultry, especially on large farms. While typically affecting birds and occasionally causing poultry farm outbreaks, HPAI has recently spread to mammals, causing thousands of sea lion deaths and infecting cattle. New mutations show the virus adapting to mammals.”Dr Jayadevan said, “Human infections have occurred through direct contact with poultry and cattle, but the virus hasn’t yet spread between humans. If it does, it could be highly lethal, with a 50% mortality rate. The virus’ mammalian adaptation and potential for further mutations, possibly through mixing with a human-adapted influenza virus, increase this risk.”According to Scaria, the department of animal husbandry & dairying and the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) in India issued a joint advisory on H5N1 avian influenza recently. The advisory did not mention efforts on genomic sequencing of virus samples from past or ongoing H5N1 outbreaks in animals other than poultry and zoo animals. He said, surveillance and testing protocols outlined in the advisory did not cover mammals beyond just birds, despite mounting scientific evidence suggesting the virus could spillover to other mammalian species.