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Deadly strain of mutated bird flu 'could kill 300 million people'
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https://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/news/he...lu-1307858        Deadly strain of mutated bird flu 'could kill 300 million people'
A top scientist and chair of the Global Health Council has warned there could be a pandemic at any time
By Oliver Milne David Thomas Edd Moore
09:52, 7 MAR 2018 UPDATED 10:02, 7 MAR 2018     A killer strain of flu could break out at any time - and claim as many as 300 million lives.

That is the warning from one of the world's top health scientists following a winter plagued by the so-called 'Aussie flu' outbreak in the UK.

Dr Jonathan Quick, chair of the Global Health Council, said the flu virus is "the most diabolical, hardest-to-control, and fastest-spreading potential viral killer known to humankind".

And he was warned that if there was a global outbreak of a newly mutated strain it could kill up to 300 million people.

This winter's flu outbreak was a warning that the world needs to be prepared for a new strain of bird flu, which is most likely to break out, reports the Daily Mirror .   Dr Quick has warned that vital infrastructure including hospitals, and the global economy could all collapse under the pressure caused by a pandemic.

Speaking to the Daily Mail Dr Quick warned: "The conditions are right, it could happen tomorrow"

"It seems that's what happened in 1918 with Spanish flu and 1956 with Asian flu.

"The most likely culprit will be a new and unprecedentedly deadly mutation of the influenza virus. The conditions are right, it could happen tomorrow."  The last pandemic hit in 2009-10 when swine flu emerged in Mexico, while the deadly Spanish flu pandemic of 1918 claimed up to 100 million lives.

Also known as avian flu, three strains have caused concern in recent years - H5N1, H7N9 and H5N6.

Of those H5N1 poses the greatest threat of mutating and sparking the next killer pandemic, according to Dr Quick.

He said: "If a new and highly contagious strain of H5N1 were to evolve and hitchhike with an unwitting passenger on to an aeroplane, the pandemic situation would quickly assume disaster movie proportions."

But he said disaster could be averted if more investment was put into looking for a universal vaccine for the flu

A new vaccine being developed by scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles hopes to bring us one step closer to that reality.   In the meantime we are left with more conventional ways to contain a a flu outbreak.

Public Health England (PHE) has repeatedly plugged their Catch It, Bin It, Kill It campaign, in the wake of the Aussie flu and Japanese flu outbreaks that hit the UK this winter.

Dr Paul Cosford, medical director and head of health protection at PHE, said last week: "In order to prevent the spread of flu, it is important to practice good respiratory and hand hygiene and to avoid close contact with others who have flu symptoms."

The latest figures showed flu is still proving a problem across the UK, but that infections have "peaked", PHE said.   Earlier this winter, Plymouth was in the 'red zone' for parts of the country affected by so-called Aussie flu.

Deaths were confirmed in the UK and in Ireland following the outbreak.


It is not clear if any cases were ever reported in the city.

But it did lead to wide-scale warnings from Public Health England.
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