We badly need to reduce our risk of future pandemics

IN the midst of the various crises currently unfolding, from famine to war and all the way up to existential planetary concerns, we hardly need a new global pandemic coming at us. Yet we are firmly set on a course that is, on a daily basis, increasing that risk.

The latest outbreak of the highly pathogenic avian influenza (bird flu) reached North America in December 2021 – in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Subsequently, viruses have been confirmed in wild birds, backyard flocks, commercial poultry facilities and wild mammals in both Canada and the US.

Detections of avian influenza in mammals were recorded in 2022 and 2023, including seals, skunks, mountain lions, red foxes, raccoons and even a bottlenose dolphin. Many more mammals are expected to join this list over the coming months.

On December 6 last, the Alaska state veterinarian confirmed a polar bear had died from avian influenza, in what is believed to be the first recorded case of this type. Scientists and scientific bodies are at pains to reassure the public that avian flu poses little or no threat to humans.

Yet those same scientists understand that the more prevalent a virus is, the greater the chance of mutation, and with a rapidly mutating virus, no one can predict the outcome.

Put simply, the more mutations there are, the greater the risk of animal-to-human transmission, the next step being human-to-human transmission. No one disputes the fact that factory farms are breeding grounds for viruses. Because of the way we are now farming animals intensively, once disease enters the closed environment, it spreads rapidly among the immuno-compromised animals inside.

With tens of billions of animals – mainly chickens and pigs – crammed into sheds together all over the world, including here in Ireland, it is surely only a matter of time before another serious zoonotic event occurs.

By moving away rapidly from the factory farming model of animal agriculture, we are at least reducing the risk of future pandemics, and surely that is a no-brainer. GERRY BOLAND, Co. Roscommon.