Editorial photo #10097770 Health

Bird Flu Threats

Every year mass bird flu infections forced farmers in numerous countries to slaughter millions of chickens -- something that contributed to the high price of eggs. ''Governments should consider vaccinating poultry against bird flu, which has killed hundreds of millions of birds and infected mammals worldwide, to prevent the virus from turning into a new pandemic'', the head of the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) said. The World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) says there have been ''an unprecedented number of outbreaks'' of bird flu reported in regions across the world since the outbreak began in October 2021. The World Health Organization (WHO) also says 873 humans have been infected with H5N1 avian flu over the past 20 years, and 458 have died. Silkie chickens and domestic guineafowl are seen inside a poultry farm at Hanspukuria, West Bengal, India on 20/05/2023. (Photo by Soumyabrata Roy/NurPhoto)