The medical community is carefully following the evolution of bird flu cases, which through mutations reached from birds to humans. Many say this will be the next epidemic because of the potential to infect both animals and humans.
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The next likely cause of a pandemic, after COVID 19, could be a virus, called disease X, which is still unknown to science. Experts believe that the pandemic could be caused by an as-yet-unidentified microorganism, which will appear out of the blue, just as was the case with the Sars-CoV-2 virus.
The attention of the medical community was drawn this week by the world's first human death due to H5N2 bird flu. It is a 59-year-old patient from Mexico.
Specialists fear that bird flu could become a threat to humanity.
“It is of concern because this type of virus, which causes disease in birds, has sickened a human. The moment it can pass from birds to humans, there is the danger of an epidemic breaking out. Because of this, the viruses that cause avian flu in birds, but also in other animals, are carefully monitored. There was also swine flu. There were also sporadic cases when they passed to humans, workers from poultry farms got sick. The virus produces mutations, has a large antigenic variability. That's why we get vaccinated against the flu every year. New types of viruses appear all the time. that's why the World Health Organization is concerned. Many say this will be the next epidemic because of the potential to infect both animals and humans. But hopefully not in the near future“, declared the doctor Ovidiu Roșca, from the “Victor Babeș” Hospital in Timișoara.
Returning to the patient who died as a result of infection with the H5N2 virus, he presented with fever, breathing difficulties, diarrhea, nausea. The person had no known contact with poultry or other animals, but had a number of comorbidities.
“Those who have multiple comorbidities are patients at risk for any kind of virus. They can make severe forms of flu. The symptomatology is the classic one of the flu. The onset is sudden, with high fever, chills, altered general condition, with intense headache, myalgia, breathing difficulties. The virus mutates and then it would take a while to make a vaccine for this type of virus“, Ovidiu Roșca also said.
