Bird flu poses pandemic risk worse than Covid, French Institute says

The bird flu virus that spreads among wild birds, poultry and mammals could lead to a pandemic worse than Covid-19 if the virus mutates to be transmitted between humans, the head of the respiratory infections center at France’s Pasteur Institute said.

Highly pathogenic avian influenza, commonly called bird flu, has killed hundreds of millions of birds in recent years, disrupting food supplies and driving up prices, although human infections remain rare.

“What we fear is that the virus adapts to mammals, and especially to humans, it can be transmitted from human to human and this virus would be a pandemic virus,” said Marie-Anne Rameix-Velty, medical director at the Institut Pasteur’s infection center. Reuters.

The Institut Pasteur was among the first European laboratories to develop and share Covid-19 detection tests, making the protocols available to the World Health Organization and laboratories worldwide.

No antibodies against avian flu H5

Humans have antibodies against the common H1 and H3 seasonal flu, but none against the H5 bird flu that affects birds and mammals, just as they had none against Covid-19, he said.

And unlike Covid-19, which mostly affects vulnerable people, flu viruses can also kill healthy people, including children, Rameix-Welti said.

“A bird flu pandemic would probably be quite severe, potentially even more severe than the pandemic we experienced,” she said at her laboratory in Paris.

There have been many cases of humans becoming infected with H5 bird flu viruses in the past, including H5N1 currently circulating among poultry and dairy cows in the US, but these were often in close contact with infected animals.

A first human case of H5N5 occurred in the US state of Washington this month. The man, who had underlying illnesses, died last week.

In its latest report on bird flu, the WHO said there were nearly 1,000 human cases between 2003 and 2025 – mostly in Egypt, Indonesia and Vietnam, of which 48% had died.

The risk of a human pandemic remains low

However, the risk of a human pandemic developing remains low, said Gregorio Torres, head of the Department of Science at the World Organization for Animal Health. Reuters.

“We have to be prepared to respond early enough. But for now, you can happily walk in the woods, eat chicken and eggs and enjoy your life. The risk of a pandemic is possible. But in terms of probability, it’s still very low,” he said.

Rameix-Welti also said that if bird flu were to mutate so that it could be transmitted between humans, the world would be better prepared than before the Covid-19 pandemic.

“The good thing with flu, compared to Covid, is that we have specific preventative measures in place. We have vaccine candidates ready and we know how to quickly engineer a vaccine,” he said.

“We also have stocks of specific antiviral drugs, which, in principle, would be effective against this bird flu virus,” he added.