UPDATED

JUN 5, 2023, 2:18 PM SGT

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2023/06/03/world/science-health-world/bird-flu-virus-changing/

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PARIS – The virus causing record cases of avian influenza in birds across the world is changing rapidly, experts have warned, as calls increase for countries to vaccinate their poultry.

While emphasising thatthe risk to humans remains low,the experts who spoke to Agence France-Presse said that the surging number of bird flu cases in mammals is a cause for concern.

Since first emerging in 1996, the H5N1 avian influenza virus had previously been confined to mostly seasonal outbreaks.

But “something happened” in mid-2021 that made the group of virusesmuch more infectious,according to Dr Richard Webby, the head of a World Health Organisation collaborating centre studying influenza in animals.

Since…