A NEW strain of killer flu which could spread to Britain within 24 hours is “one of the biggest biological threats of our time”, experts warned.
The alert comes after people started to fall victim to seasonal flu and the more virulent swine flu at the same time.
Such a rare incidence creates the risk of a lethal mutation, leading to an “ominous” super-flu virus for which humans have almost no immunity, said medical scientists.
Dr Peter Hotez, a world-renowned infectious disease expert, warned: “Highly infectious strains of the virus against which humans have little defence can spread from one continent to another within 24 hours.” He said the fact scientists had detected the rare double-flu infection highlighted the need for extreme vigilance against new killer strains around the world.
Dr Hotez, president of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, praised the scientists who had made the discovery.
But he warned: “We are required to remain vigilant against one of the biggest biological threats of our time.”
The worst-case scenario for many disease experts is that bird flu and a human flu strain combine to create a lethal new virus that is easily transmitted among people.
This comes as Britain’s winter flu season gets underway, amid fears it could be one of the worst outbreaks of the disease in years.
Last year more than 600 people died from winter flu in the UK, with hospitals so overwhelmed they were forced to cancel routine operations.
The severity of the outbreak in late 2010 took experts by surprise as it was far more virulent than had been predicted.
But many Britons still have little immunity to the virus strain because of low uptake of the vaccine that fights it.
The true nature of this year’s virus won’t be known until the weather gets colder and people spend more time indoors, which leads to the quick transmission of the disease.
Temperatures are set to plunge to “Siberian levels” within the next fortnight and a bitterly cold December with temperatures of minus 15C is on the cards.
The killer virus alert comes after flu surveillance experts in Cambodia confirmed the unusual incidence of people being infected with seasonal flu and pandemic swine flu at the same time.
The worst-case scenario for many disease experts is that bird flu and a human flu strain combine to create a lethal new virus that is easily transmitted among people.
So far, the bird flu virus has shown very limited ability to pass from human to human.
But it is thought to be only a matter of time until someone already infected with a strain like swine flu is also hit with bird flu.
The fear is that it will then mutate into a super-flu that could wipe out millions of people and spread across the globe within weeks.
According to a report today in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, the people with double infections in Cambodia recovered and the two flu strains did not combine into a new virus.
However, experts say co-infections in South-east Asia need particularly close scrutiny in view of the deadly bird flu H5N1 virus and the H1N1 swine flu pandemic that emerged in 2009.
Professor John Oxford, one of Britain’s leading flu experts, said: “This has been a ‘mini crisis’.
“The bird flu virus hasn’t yet got the launch-off point. It is basically revving its engines but hasn’t started on the flight path.
“If it can hitch a ride on another current strain of the virus, that will be particularly unpleasant and means that no-one in the world will have any immunity to the new strain that is created.
“That means the world is then its oyster.”
The professor added: “Cambodia is one of about six areas across the world where bird flu is embedded in the bird population and it regularly kills chickens and humans. It is a microbial volcano area and every now and again it gives off some smoke and there is a bang.
“This is a warning that we should not disregard.
“They have found a fairly rare thing, people co-infected with a range of influenza A viruses.
“Fortunately for them and everyone else, that didn’t include H5N1.
“If that happened then we would be for it and into a scenario of worldwide contagion. It is just a matter of time.” A warning was also sounded by Dr Patrick Blair, director of respiratory diseases at the US Naval Health Research Centre in San Diego, California, which first spotted the unusual double infection.
Dr Blair said: “Influenza viruses are continually changing.
“Finding a co-infection in an area where there is considerable seasonal flu, pandemic flu and H5N1 avian flu shows there is an opportunity for co-mingling in swine or human hosts that could create an ominous global health problem.”
Q&A
What is a pandemic?
It is an epidemic of an infectious disease that spreads either across a large region, from continent to continent, or worldwide.When will another one strike?
No one knows when or how virulent the next pandemic will be. The only thing certain is that there will be one.
Will a super virus develop?
Flu mutates a little each year which is why new vaccines have to be made. Sometimes large mutations occur, such as the one which led to swine flu.
Bird flu has been monitored since 1997 and has “pandemic potential”, meaning it could change into a form that will transmit between humans.
How will pandemic flu be spread?
The same way other flu spreads, by infected people coughing and sneezing. Any outbreak could spread across the world in weeks.
During pandemics in 1918, 1957 and 1968, when most international travel was by ship, the illnesses were worldwide within six to nine months.
Has Britain been struck before?
Yes, most recently by the H1N1 swine flu pandemic in 2009 which originated in Mexico.
Although the virus was highly transmissible and millions were infected, the death rate was very low. However a “doomsday” strain did emerge 93 years ago, a variety of H1N1 that swept the globe.
What was that?
It was 1918’s “Spanish flu”. It killed between 50 and 100 million people, about four to seven per cent of the world population – a higher toll than the bubonic plague in the 14th century and smallpox in the 16th. It killed 230,000 in the UK.
What about the other pandemics?
The flu pandemics of 1957 and 1968 killed more than two million people, including 100,000 in the UK.
In 1989 a flu epidemic in Britain claimed 29,000 lives.
A worst-case scenario pandemic could kill 750,000 in Britain leading to mass graves, temporary mortuaries and round-the-clock cremations.
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