OPS y países de las Américas buscan establecer una comisión intersectorial contra la influenza zoonótica – OPS/OMS

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, March 14, 2024 (PAHO) – With the aim of strengthening the preparation, prevention and control of avian influenza, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) convened this week its 35 member states in Brazil . to establish a regional commission to combat this disease. The meeting took place when the world is experiencing a high spread of the virus in birds and mammals, posing a potential risk to public health.

The participants agreed on the need to create an intersectoral commission to strengthen the detection, prevention and response to zoonotic influenza. “It is essential to promote this commission under the approach of ‘a health‘. This will contribute to comprehensively addressing zoonoses,” said Dr. Sylvain Aldighieri, Director of the Department of Prevention, Control and Elimination of Communicable Diseases at PAHO.

The intersectoral Commission for the prevention and control of zoonotic influenza in the Americas will act as a driving force for the public, animal and environmental health fields to exchange updated information on surveillance, epidemiological risk and evolution of circulating viruses. Furthermore, the Commission is expected to promote strategies at the national, subregional and regional levels; and strengthens coordination between sectors.

PAHO, through its Pan American Foot-and-Mouth Disease and Veterinary Public Health Center (PANAFTOSA), led the meeting that took place from March 12 to 14 to discuss the objectives, structure and operation of the Commission.

It is estimated that 75% of emerging infectious human diseases originate in animals. Since 2020, a variant of the A(H5N1) subtype of the avian influenza virus has caused deaths in wild and poultry birds in multiple countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, North America and, in 2022, it spread to Central and South America. . .

In January 2023, the first case of human infection with avian influenza A(H5N1) was reported in Latin America, and since then, several countries in the region have confirmed cases in both birds and humans. To date, cases of avian influenza in humans have been sporadic and no sustained human-to-human transmission has been identified.

«It is crucial that countries continue to strengthen early detection and containment against any event or outbreak at the interface between humans and animals,» said Dr. Ciro Ugarte, Director of the PAHO Department of Health Emergencies. «This surveillance and response must be collaborative,» he added.

The Commission will be made up of representatives of the Ministries of Health of the countries of the region, including those from the areas of seasonal, zoonotic and pandemic influenza, epidemiology and laboratory, official veterinary services, national representatives of the environmental sector related to avian influenza, as well as the collaborating centers, with PAHO serving as secretariat.

According to Ottorino Cosivi, Director of PANAFTOSA, the Commission «will act as a catalyst for regional work to address avian influenza.» Cosivi highlighted the effectiveness of other regional mechanisms coordinated by PAHO, such as REDIPRA, which facilitate intersectoral collaboration in the fight against rabies in the Americas, and have contributed significantly toward the elimination of this disease in the region.

Representatives from several organizations also participated in this week’s meeting, including the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), the International Regional Organization for Agricultural Health ( OIRSA). ), the Caribbean Animal Health Network (CaribVET), the Executive Secretariat of the Council of Ministers of Health of Central America and the Dominican Republic (SE-COMISCA), the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, ), the United States Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), and the World Health Organization (WHO) collaborating centers for human and animal influenza.