The bird flu virus, which spreads among wild and domestic birds and mammals, could lead to a pandemic worse than COVID-19 if the virus mutates and starts to spread between people, the head of the respiratory infections center at France's Pasteur Institute said, quoted by Reuters.
Highly pathogenic avian influenza has led to the culling of hundreds of millions of birds in the past few years, disrupting food supplies and driving up prices, although human infection remains rare.
"We fear that the virus will adapt to mammals, and in particular to humans, will become capable of human-to-human transmission and will be pandemic," Marie-Anne Ramey-Velty, medical director at the Pasteur Institute's respiratory infections center, told Reuters.
The Pasteur Institute was among the first European laboratories to develop and share tests for the detection of COVID-19, providing protocols to the World Health Organization (WHO) and laboratories around the world.
No antibodies against H5 bird flu
People have antibodies against the common seasonal flu H1 and H3, but they do not have antibodies against the avian flu H5, which affects birds and mammals, nor against COVID-19, said Marie-Anne Ramey-Welty. She added that unlike COVID-19, which mainly affects vulnerable people, influenza viruses can also kill healthy people, including children.
"A bird flu pandemic would probably be quite severe, potentially even more severe than the pandemic we experienced," said Marie-Anne Ramey-Welty.
There have been many cases of people infected with H5 avian influenza viruses in the past, including H5N1, which is currently circulating in poultry and dairy cattle in the United States, but they often had close contact with infected animals. The first human case of H5N5 occurred in Washington state this month. The man, who had underlying health conditions, died last week.
In its latest report on bird flu, the WHO said there were nearly 1,000 outbreaks in humans between 2003 and 2025 – mainly in Egypt, Indonesia and Vietnam, of which 48 percent were fatal.
The risk of a pandemic is still low
However, the risk of a pandemic developing in humans remains low, Gregorio Torres, head of science at the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), told Reuters.
"We need to be ready to react early enough. But for now, you can safely walk in the forest, eat chicken and eggs and enjoy your life. The risk of a pandemic is possible. But in terms of probability, it is still very low," he commented.
Ramey-Welty also said that if bird flu mutates to be transmissible between humans, the world is better prepared than it was before the COVID-19 pandemic.
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