A World Health Organization official on Thursday called for stronger surveillance in animals for evidence of infection with H5N1 bird flu in order to curb its spread.
“What we really need globally, in the U.S. and abroad, is much stronger surveillance in animals, in wild birds, in poultry, in animals that are known to be susceptible to infection,” WHO epidemiologist Maria Van Kerkhove told an online press conference.
The agency said it is in touch with partner agencies such as the World Organization for Animal Health and Food and Agriculture Organization to increase surveillance in animals.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture last month confirmed the presence of H5N1 bird flu in a pig on a backyard farm in Oregon.
Pigs represent a particular concern for the spread of bird flu because they can become co-infected with bird and human viruses, which could swap genes to form a new, more dangerous virus that can more easily infect humans.
“For us at the WHO we are always in a constant state of readiness as it relates to influenza, because it isn’t a matter of if, it’s a matter of when,” Kerkhove said, adding that the risk to the general population for avian influenza remains low globally.
So far, 55 human cases of H5N1 bird flu, including in a child, have been reported in the United States this year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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