In an alarming development, a poultry farm in Missouri has reported an outbreak of a highly lethal type of bird flu in thousands of broiler chickens being raised for commercial purposes.
According to a statement issued by the US Department of Agriculture, over 240,000 broiler chickens have been infected with the Asian Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) or H5N1 virus.
First detected in China in 1996, the H5N1 virus occurs mainly in birds and is highly contagious among them. The first case of human transmission was detected in Hong Kong in 1997 when it swept poultry farms across the country.
Since then, it has been responsible for outbreaks in poultry and wild birds in over 50 countries in Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and Africa. China, India, Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, and Vietnam are being considered as hotspots for the virus.
These countries have sporadically reported transmission of the H5N1 virus from birds to humans. Although extremely rare, H5N1 can cause severe disease and death among humans. It only affects humans after prolonged and close contact with infected birds.
Where human-to-human transmission of the virus is concerned, it is also extremely rare and has occurred on only a handful of occasions in the past. However, none of the cases have ever caused a community outbreak anywhere in the world.
