(JAMA) As bird flu continues to circle the globe, a recent report suggests that the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) A(H5N1) virus spread between farmed mink in Spain last October. The virus also may have been transmitted between seals in coastal New England last summer.
The events mark the first large H5N1 outbreaks potentially driven by mammal-to-mammal transmission. The outbreaks, along with the virus’ ongoing transmission in wild birds and poultry and increasing infections in wild mammals, have renewed concerns that H5N1, first identified in the mid-1990s, could be poised for spillover into humans.
The ongoing avian influenza outbreak is now the largest on record in Europe and North America, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The outbreak is being driven by H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b viruses, which emerged in the Netherlands in October 2020 before spreading through Europe, Asia, and Africa. A recent report by the European Food Safety Authority and other agencies found that since October 2021, more than 58 million birds have died or been culled in H5N1-affected poultry establishments in 37 European countries.
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