Is avian influenza a danger to humanity?
Influenza viruses change constantly (so-called ‘antigenic drift’). As a result vaccines have to be adapted constantly (annually) to the seasonal influenza. There is also the possibility that a concurrent infection with avian and human influenza A viruses in a human or pig could lead to a mixing (so-called ‘reassortment’) and drastic change in the genetic material of the viruses (so-called ‘antigenic shift’). This could result in the protective mechanisms of the human body not being ready to fight the new pathogen, leading to a significant increase in the number of severe diseases with high mortality, as was the case numerous times in the last century. If the virus also becomes more easily transmissible from human to human, there is a danger of a worldwide spread and thus of a so-called pandemic.
