Prepare for avian flu amid Omicron threat
As the world battles the Omicron surge, with the US count rising by an alarming 1 million cases in the last 24 hours, Israel is at the centre of something very unusual. Fighting its fifth wave and allowing the vulnerable population to take a fourth vaccine dose—the first such nation to do so—it has also become the only one to record Flurona, a joint infection of flu with Covid. In addition, it is staring at one of its worst wildlife disasters with the outbreak of avian influenza.
After over 5,000 migratory cranes were found dead at the Hula Nature Reserve, the nation was forced to cull more than half a million infected poultry, triggering a potential egg scarcity. When the migration season began last year and millions of birds started their annual sojourn from the cold European countries to a warmer Africa, hopping at Israel, the first case showed up around October. After mass deaths of cranes were reported last month, the outbreak swelled in turkey and chicken farms and Israel has responded swiftly, all the while counting its losses. Interestingly, way back in November, the Paris-headquartered World Organisation for Animal Health had put out an advisory for member nations about the potent hazards of Asian H5 viruses and urged heightened levels of biosecurity measures between October and April. Israel has borne the brunt, but the rest of the world must not look the other way.
As things stand today, the recurring Covid waves are pushing countries and their healthcare services to the brink. Keeping an eye on the avian influenza would be a wise move because any transmission from birds to humans is the last thing nations like India would want at this juncture. Additionally, evidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection in North America’s white-tailed deer populations in the wild has been found too. Though recent research confirms that human transmission from these animals is not yet possible, the reverse has apparently happened. While this is a challenge for the future, it is only prudent that nations put together their animal disease resources and scale up surveillance.