UN Urges Urgent Effort to Combat Rise in Asia-Pacific Bird Flu Cases

BEIJING — The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) called for immediate regional efforts to address the surge in avian influenza cases across the Asia-Pacific region on Thursday.

“Since late 2023, we have observed a rise in human cases and the virus spreading to new animal species,” said Kachen Wongsathapornchai, regional manager of the FAO’s Emergency Center for Transboundary Animal Diseases (ECTAD), in a statement. “The emergence of novel A/H5N1 strains, which are more easily transmissible, increases the pandemic threat. Immediate, coordinated preventive measures are essential.”

Bird flu typically spreads to farmed animals from wild birds.

The H5N1 strain of avian flu has devastated the globe in recent years, killing billions of farmed and wild birds and spreading to tens of mammal species.

Australia reported a human H5N1 case in May. Earlier this year, a Chinese woman died from a rare H3N8 subtype of avian influenza, marking the world’s first death from the strain.

Australia is currently battling three parallel outbreaks of bird flu, with at least 10 poultry farms infected.