No need to panic because of H5N1, says People’s Health Organisation on World Health Day

According to Dr Gilada, H5N1 virus is a subtype of influenza type A that affects birds and causes Avian Influenza. 'Though this infection can cross over to humans, there is no evidence of sustained human-to-human transmission of this virus,' he said.

Mumbai: Amid the latest Bird Flu outbreak which is being described as '100 times worse than the Covid pandemic’, Mumbai-based People’s Health Organisation-India said that there was no need to panic. However, it highlighted the need for preparedness at global, national, state and local level all over the world.

“The government and medical associations should issue immediate advisory to people on veracity of such claims and take steps to stop panic,” PHO Secretary-General Dr Ishwar Gilada said on World Health Day, which falls on April 7.

According to him, there needs to be better understanding of Influenza A, Bird Flu and H5N1 virus.

“In humans we see seasonal flu, which is mainly due to Influenza A or Influenza B. Whereas infection with Influenza B is mild, Influenza A has H1N1 and H3N2 subtypes that are more pathogenic. Influenza A also causes Avian (birds) Flu, Swine Flu (pigs), Equine flu (horses), Canine flu (dogs)and Bat Flu among others. Some infections are zoonotic and they get transmitted to humans,” Dr Gilada said.

He said different influenza virus genomes encode different hemagglutinin (H) and neuraminidase (N) proteins. “The H5N1 is an influenza A subtype that has a type 5 of H protein and a type 1 of N protein. With 18 known types of H and 11 known types of N...theoretically 198 different combinations of these proteins mean subtypes of Influenza A virus are possible,” said Dr Gilada, who is also President-Emeritus, AIDS Society of India and Governing Council Member, International AIDS Society.

According to Dr Gilada, H5N1 virus is a subtype of influenza type A that affects birds and causes Avian Influenza. “Though this infection can cross over to humans, there is no evidence of sustained human-to-human transmission of this virus. There are close to 900 confirmed human cases of H5N1, of which the WHO reported a total of 888 confirmed human cases which resulted in the deaths of 463 people since 2003 till March 2024,” he said.

Tracking the viruses and other microbes, genome sequencing, knowledge sharing, research & Development to find vaccines, treatments/cures, prevention guidelines if and when there is outbreak are crucial steps.

“But for this only the scientific community and administration needs to be involved, not common public. What is required for common people is – not interfering with the environment, ecology, domains of other animal or plant species. Like we human beings have the right to survive other animals too have similar rights. Else we are inviting several zoonotic diseases, poisoning from wild plants and global warming related calamities,” said Dr Gilada.

“After the Covid-19 pandemic, for some ‘scientists’ it is a fashion to talk about the impending pandemic and scale it to 10 to 100 times the size of Covid-19 pandemic. Unfortunately even the WHO too joins such chorus stating some unknown Disease ‘X’. The efforts to project hypothetical pandemics amounts to psycho-terrorism and must be dealt scientifically and rationally with utmost sense of urgency,” he said.