Rodrigo Gatinho / Portugal.gov
Former Health Director-General Francisco George
Former Health Director-General has a concern in mind: H5N1 flu. And it disagrees for free Freitas: Portugal today “is well prepared” to face coronavirus.
Five years after the first cases of coronavirus contagion have been confirmed in Portugal that causes Covid-19, Graça Freitasone of the main faces of the fight against pandemic, which the next pandemic will be sure, “much more complex”, fast, noisy and with a significant increase in “social fractures”.
Now the also public health expert and former general director of health Francisco George warns of the “threats on the horizon” like the H5N1 flu virus.
“We have to be prepared now, more than ever, for new phenomena. There are threats on the horizon, ”he said in an interview with Lusa agency, having to be“ the H5 flu virus, which is circulating, especially in birds and cattle, (…), even in dairy cows ”.
The first cases in Portugal of contagion by Coronaviruses-COV-2, which causes the designated disease of COVID-19, were confirmed on March 2, 2020, the official date of the beginning of the pandemic in the country. The president of the Portuguese Society of Public Health (SPSP) considers that, contrary to what happened at the time, Portugal today “is well prepared” to face problems that may arise in this field.
“Portugal is better prepared (…) to face problems that may arise, namely, what is most worrying at this moment that is the flu H5, which, hopefully, will be contained in the animal area and that does not exceed the species barrier and not provoke a problem as happened to COVID-19 ”.
The Minister of Agriculture said on the 11th that Portugal had five household outbreaks and four savages from the so -called bird flu.
Francisco George notes that there is danger in poultry and cattle explorations, where there is contact with humansstressing that the risks “have to be well controlled … where the problem arises, (…) to combat and prevent the spread of the virus.”
But he recalls that so far only what epidemiologists have been called sporadic cases, a result of “direct contact, very close” with infected animals, and that “the transmission between people did not happen.”
“There is an epizootia [doença que ataca ao mesmo tempo muitos animais da mesma espécie na mesma zona] The circular, but without translation on a human side, in human health. Therefore, it is necessary to reinforce surveillance and take action immediately if cases of human infection of patients arise. ”
Epidemiology experts also consider the existence of ‘clusters’ or infection groups, when cases of disease of related people and space are confirmed, a situation equally distinct from that of an epidemic, which occurs when patient transmission is done in chain. The international distribution of the disease is classified as pandemic.
The first outbreak of H5N1 avian flu occurred in Hong Kong in 1997having been controlled through mass slaughter of 1.5 million domestic birds.
In 2003, a new outbreak began and since 2015, the flu has affected more than 60 species of mammals, including dogs, cats and pigs. Transported by wild birds, the virus has infected sea lions in South America and visions in Europe.
Between October 2024 and January this year, more than 840 outbreaks of the disease in Europe were detected, especially in Hungary and Italy.
The transmission of the virus to humans does not happen easily, but when it occurs, the infection can lead to a serious clinical picture and experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) fear a possible H5N1 mutation that may, for example, facilitate propagation.
The United Nations agency announced that last year were reported a total of 81 infections in humans, the largest number of cases since 2015.
In the first weeks of this year the death of two people were released due to the flu flu, one in the United States and one in Cambodia.
