“What we see today” of avian influenza “is certainly the tip of an iceberg” that is still submerged, “of a situation which in reality is probably much more serious than what we are able to monitor both on the animal side and, I fear, on the human side”. This is the thought of Fabrizio Pregliasco, virologist at the State University of Milan, who comments to Adnkronos Salute on the second human case of H5N1 virus infection reported by the USA as associated with the epidemic currently circulating among dairy cattle.
“The manifestations identified” in the two patients described so far, two workers in the dairy sector in Texas and Michigan, “are basically not serious symptoms, a conjunctivitis”, observes the expert. “But when a spillover occurs” and the species jump of a comfrey pathogen to humans, he specifies, “at a macroscopic level”, in large numbers, “often serious cases can be highlighted”.
The virologist “really hopes for coordination on human and animal surveillance, also in Italy, also in Europe – he urges – because this virus has been working to adapt to humans since 1997″ and “it is obvious that with a large diffusion” in mammals “the risks increase: more cases, more probability of variants. Even if influenza viruses are not as good as Sars-CoV-2 in quickly selecting new mutants, even the flu – recalls Pregliasco – has already shown us what it can do in previous pandemics”.
Bassetti: “Let’s not make Covid mistakes”
“Unfortunately, we knew we would have to talk about the topic of avian influenza. It comes from too far away and those who have studied this phenomenon, Ilaria Capua for example, know well that for 20-25 years this avian virus has had nothing and is of mammals and of human beings. I fear that this second human case of H5N1 avian influenza in the USA is just the tip of the iceberg, but what’s underneath? Are we certain that there are no cases of human-to-human transmission? Are we sure these are the only reported cases? Let’s not make the same mistakes with Covid in China: that is, underestimating the phenomenon because it could be a political problem”, he says to Adnkronos Salute Matteo Bassettidirector of Infectious Diseases at the San Martino polyclinic hospital in Genoa.
“We must equip ourselves because this virus has traveled around the world, USA, Canada, Australia, South East Asia, and on animals it is pandemic – he warns – Then the transmission on humans and from human to human will happen sooner or later, it is not a question of if, but when. The question I ask myself: is Italy prepared to face a potential pandemic? Do we have vaccines and drugs? Has the Italian pandemic plan – asks the infectious disease specialist – been sent to the Regions? I understand that we are stuck in October-November 2023 and I have not heard anything about the plan since then. In the last 2 years we have avoided addressing the topic from a technical point of view, but have treated it from a purely political point of view. An error”.
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