– There is an increase almost all over the world. That is according to Norway’s official chief veterinarian and professional director of the Norwegian Food Safety Authority, Ole-Herman Tronerud. Ole-Herman Tronerud, Norway’s official chief veterinarian and professional director of the Norwegian Food Safety Authority. Photo: Norwegian Food Safety Authority – We are not unfamiliar with the fact that some of these bird flu variants can infect humans, he says. But the virus does not spread between people today. Norwegian health authorities closely follow the development of the disease both abroad and in Norway. Dead goshawks are tested for bird flu. Photo: Norwegian Food Safety Authority In the last year and a half, there has been a lot of infection by a subvariant of the H5N1 virus in Europe and South America. In Norway too, there are many more infected birds than before, and most die. – We have cases like this more or less all the time, says the chief veterinarian. But recently infection has also been discovered among mink on a fur farm in Spain and among wild sea lions in Peru. In Peru, over 500 sea lions and 55,000 wild birds have died from the disease. A dead sea lion has washed ashore and is being examined in the Paracas National Park in Peru. Photo: – / AFP Possible infection from mammal to mammal worries health authorities all over the world, including the Norwegian Institute of Public Health. – More detections in mammals and signs that the virus has been transmitted between mammals give us increasing reason to be concerned because this may be a warning that the virus may develop similar characteristics in humans. That’s what Ragnhild Tønnessen, senior advisor at the department for infection control and vaccination at the Institute of Public Health, says. Ragnhild Tønnessen, senior advisor department for infection control and vaccination, FHI. Photo: FHI The fear is that, in the worst case, bird flu will develop into a pandemic, as covid-19 did. Can be dangerous for humans Bird flu was first discovered in China in 1996. As early as 1997, infection in humans was discovered. There are several virus variants of bird flu, and people infected by birds can become seriously ill. Beyond the 2000s, there have been several outbreaks among birds where humans have also been affected. A woman and her daughter get scared when ducks approach in a park in Beijing, China in 2013. Photo: Alexander F. Yuan / AP The World Health Organization said in February this year that in the past 20 years it had registered 868 people in 21 countries who were infected by H5N1, more than half of these, 457, have lost their lives. But the virus that has spread in Europe is a less dangerous subtype of H5N1. There are few people who have become ill from this type. – In the last two years, less than ten people have been diagnosed with the virus that is most widespread in birds now, says Tønnessen. – The vast majority of cases in humans have been mild, but there have been some who have contracted a serious illness, she says. Allayed fear of infection between people in Cambodia Around the time the WHO report was released in February, it became known that an 11-year-old girl in Cambodia had died of bird flu, and that her father was also infected. This led to fears of infection between people. WHO assisted the authorities in Cambodia in the investigation. On 1 March, it was established that there was no infection between humans, but that both were infected in direct contact with poultry. Villagers display posters warning of the danger of bird flu infection after an 11-year-old died in February. Photo: HANDOUT / AFP It also turned out to be a different subvariant of H5N1 than the one circulating in Europe and South America. – There are many different versions of the H5N1 virus in the world, explains Tønnesen. – This virus has circulated for quite a few years in poultry in South-East Asia, including in Cambodia, but not in our part of the world. Linking infection to living conditions It is mainly in Asia that people have been infected. This is a people who have lived very close to the animals. – There you live in houses with a lot of poultry, says Tronerud of the Norwegian Food Safety Authority. – Our poultry can get just as sick as others, but we keep them outside in our own houses, he says. A Vietnamese chicken farmer rests in a hammock as she waits for people to buy chicken in Ho Chi Minh. Photo: RICHARD VOGEL STF / AP Contagion to bird flocks often occurs through contact with wild birds. In Norway, this is not a concern for those who run professionally, says Tronerud. – In the production animal farms we have with broilers or egg producers, there are requirements for biosecurity and an awareness of infection control. But those who have some chickens in the garden must be careful. – In hobby poultry farms with poultry that go outside, there is a much greater risk of having close contact with wild birds, which land in the same areas and eat the same food. People should provide a tight roof over the birds and their food, to ensure good animal welfare, he believes. Infection in Norway In Norway, a lot of infection has been discovered among seagulls, gannets, sea eagles and swans. It is the large birds that the Norwegian Food Safety Authority is notified that people find. Bring dead seagulls to the Norwegian Food Safety Authority to be tested for bird flu. Photo: Norwegian Food Safety Authority – Whether some sparrows die outside in a forest is not so easy to detect. It becomes very visible with dead swans on a beach, says Tronerud. He says that some infected foxes were also discovered in Norway last year, but assumes that they are infected by birds they have eaten. – Foxes are animals that eat carrion, but they are also animals that are not in very close contact with humans. There is no public health risk associated with it. Tronerud emphasizes that you never know how a virus develops, but he is an optimist. – We are not too worried that this will become a human pandemic, so to speak, says Tronerud. Tønnesen from FHI puts it this way: – It is not a given that there will ever be a pandemic, but it is one of the candidates that we have to keep an eye on. A large flock of birds flutters around the control tower at Oslo Airport Gardermoen. Photo: Håkon Mosvold Larsen / NTB
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Avian flu is affecting large parts of the world – the experts are monitoring that it will not become a pandemic
