Health officials warn of a potential H5N1 pandemic just as the WHO’s pandemic treaty vote at the 77th World Health Assembly approaches, raising concerns about increased authority and measures during future health crises.
Health officials are issuing dire warnings about the potential for an H5N1 pandemic among humans, coinciding with the WHO’s upcoming vote on the global pandemic treaty at the 77th World Health Assembly later this month. The treaty would grant the WHO significantly more authority than it had during the last pandemic, raising concerns about how this power might be used in future health crises.
Additionally, two more human cases of bird flu have been confirmed. If the bird flu mutates to spread easily among humans, it could cause widespread fear and a potentially catastrophic death toll. In such a scenario, what extreme measures might the WHO implement?
Negotiators have been working hard to negotiate the worldwide pandemic treaty in recent weeks. The WHO’s official website provides the following information directly.
Governments of the world today agreed to continue working on a proposed pandemic agreement, and to further refine the draft, ahead of the Seventy-seventh World Health Assembly that starts 27 May 2024.
Governments meeting at the World Health Organization headquarters in Geneva agreed to resume hybrid and in-person discussions over coming weeks to advance work on critical issues, including around a proposed new global system for pathogen access and benefits sharing (i.e. life-saving vaccines, treatments and diagnostics); pandemic prevention and One Health; and the financial coordination needed to scale up countries’ capacities to prepare for and respond to pandemics.
The major media in the United States has remained surprisingly silent regarding this treaty, despite its significant importance.
The final document will be submitted for voting at the World Health Assembly at the end of this month, following two years of negotiations.
The Member State-led Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) was established over two years ago to take this effort forward. The Bureau of the INB, which is guiding the process, will submit its outcome for consideration at the World Health Assembly.
INB Bureau Co-Chair Dr Precious Matsoso, from South Africa, said progress had been made during this latest round of discussions on a wide range of issues contained in the draft agreement.
“We are witnessing history play out before our eyes during this process, with the coming together of all countries to decide a binding pact to protect all citizens of the world,” said Ms Matsoso. “This is not a simple exercise. This is the first ever process to develop a proposed agreement on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response. Getting this done means getting it right, and the INB Bureau is committed to help finalize a meaningful, lasting agreement.”
Geneva, Switzerland will host the 77th World Health Assembly from May 27 to June 1.
The global pandemic treaty’s final draft will be put to a vote by member governments, and a vote is almost certain.
The worldwide pandemic pact has allegedly been “watered down,” but in actuality, nothing much has changed other than the treaty’s text being more ambiguous.
Most individuals in the general public are unaware that the WHO will be in charge when the next pandemic breaks out if this pact is passed.
Furthermore, the next pandemic might be much closer than most of us realize.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) declared on Wednesday that there has been an additional human case of the avian flu in the US.
The U.S. has documented the second case of bird flu in 2024, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Wednesday.
Health officials identified the avian influenza case in a Michigan dairy farm worker. This is the second time a case has developed in a person working with dairy cows. The virus appears to have developed under similar circumstances as it did earlier this year for a farm worker at a dairy in Texas.
A nasal swab for the infected person tested negative for influenza, however, an eye swab from the patient tested positive for bird flu, indicating an eye infection, the CDC said in a news release.
The two Americans who have contracted the virus thus far in 2024 are both dairy workers.
Even if there might still be a large number of contaminated dairy workers, many of them are currently quite unwilling to get tested.
Farmers have been reluctant to allow federal health officials onto their land to test potentially infected cattle amid uncertainty about how their businesses would be impacted.
Farmworkers have also been reluctant to participate in screening, and experts said it’s likely due to a mix of fears over job loss, immigration status, language barriers and general distrust in public health systems.
Meanwhile, we have discovered that H5N1 is to blame for four additional cat deaths.
Four more cats have died of H5N1 bird flu in the United States, including two pets in South Dakota with no links to poultry or dairy cows, according to state and federal officials. At least 14 cats have recently died of bird flu.
Of the newly reported cases, two were domestic cats which died at a property in Campbell County in South Dakota, according to a state official and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
Beth Thompson, the state’s veterinarian, said there was no livestock on the property where the pets died. “No other details regarding how the cats were infected are known at this time,” Thompson told BNO News.
This is not ideal.
If cats are falling ill and dying in large numbers, it will probably not be long before humans experience the same symptoms.
Although the specifics of these most recent cat deaths are unknown, it was previously reported that cats in Texas that perished from H5N1 had “blindness” and “brain hemorrhaging.”
Does H5N1 have the capacity to harm people in the same way?
There is an increasing number of human cases, so we need a response to that question.
Indeed, a human instance has been verified in Australia as of late.
A child has been confirmed as the first case of H5N1 bird flu in Australia.
The child contracted the avian influenza A infection while in India and fell ill in March this year, according to Victorian health officials.
The announcement came hours after bird flu was detected on a farm in Victoria.
Over half of the people who tested positive for H5N1 since 2003 have passed away.
Can you picture the panic that would break out if millions of people became afflicted all of a sudden?
Worldwide plagues will be a major factor in the impending era of extreme instability.
Just consider the fear that characterized the years 2020, 2021, and 2022.
It is really bad news for all of us if the next pandemic has a considerably greater death rate since that will make the terror that we witness much worse.
Recently, GreatGameIndia reported that bird flu cases in the US and Australia have sparked a surge in vaccine stocks. The discoveries, including a mild case in Michigan and Australia’s first case, raise concerns about potential human-to-human transmission and emphasize the need for further research.
