Influenza is still the biggest threat to global health as WHO raises fears about the spread of avian strain
Influenza is the pathogen most likely to trigger a new pandemic in the near future, according to leading scientists.
An international survey, to be published next weekend, will reveal that 57% of senior disease experts now think that a strain of flu virus will be the cause of the next global outbreak of deadly infectious illness.
The belief that influenza is the world’s greatest pandemic threat is based on long-term research showing it is constantly evolving and mutating, said Cologne University’s Jon Salmanton-García, who carried out the study.
“Each winter influenza appears,” he said. “You could describe these outbreaks as little pandemics. They are more or less controlled because the different strains that cause them are not virulent enough – but that will not necessarily be the case for ever.”
Tbf it could always jump to individual humans, the dangerous part is if it can spread from person to person instead of animal to person and the fact that it’s spreading from mammal to mammal means it’s more likely to evolve to spread between humans.
There are now cow-to-cow transmissions, which is why the WHO is expressing more concern.