Richard Pebody, director at the UK Health Security Agency, cautioned that the H5N1 bird flu strain could potentially lead to a pandemic. While the strain is not new, with origins dating back to the mid-1990s, its characteristics have evolved over the last few years. Following the diagnosis of H5N1 in a sheep in Yorkshire, officials emphasize that the immediate risk to humans remains low. UKHSA continues to monitor the situation closely, balancing animal health surveillance with public safety.
H5N1 has the potential to become a pandemic, a future pandemic. And so that's why we're watching that so closely and managing it so closely.
Current evidence suggests that the avian influenza viruses we're seeing circulating around the world do not spread easily to people.
Over the past three or four years, its features have changed. And so we're seeing it in the States, in dairy cattle, in other animals species.
This is now a new twist to the story, but insisted the risk has not changed.
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