A spotlight on avian influenza

Behind geopolitical conflicts and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic are the sporadic chains of avian influenza outbreaks with 79 notifications spread across countries from Africa, Asia, Europe and America within the first 3 months of 2022. Influenza types are divided into A, B & C with the first two causing clinically significant diseases in humans. Type A influenza are classified based on their surface proteins hemagglutinin (H) and neuraminidase (N) which help in viral entry into cells and viral progeny release from infected cells, respectively. This led to the strain nomenclature we see today (H5N1, H9N2, etc.). The avian influenza’s ability to infect birds ranging from domestic poultry to wild aquatic and migratory fowls makes it very difficult to control. Reported estimates on the economic impact of previous outbreaks in Minnesota and Italy ranges from $300–$500 million USD while global estimated losses are in the billions of USD due to the mass...