This is H5N1 Global Scan: Avian Flu Worldwide, your three-minute international focus from Quiet Please.

As 2025 draws to a close, the highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza virus continues to reshape the global landscape. Detected on every continent except Australia according to Wikipedia's global outbreak timeline, the virus has moved swiftly and unpredictably, transcending national boundaries and species. The World Health Organization reports nearly 1,000 confirmed human cases from 24 countries since 2003, with a case fatality rate nearing 50 percent, primarily in Southeast Asia, Egypt, and Africa. Recent detection in dairy cattle, sea lions in Peru, and seals in the United States underscores a growing capacity for interspecies spread and persistent ecological risk.

Let’s break down the global picture by continent. In the Americas, the Pan American Health Organization credits the spread to migrating waterfowl, with 4,700 animal outbreaks and more than 70 human cases across the United States, Canada, Chile, and Ecuador since 2022. The United States has faced unique challenges, including infections in dairy cattle across 17 states and tens of millions of chickens culled by late 2024, leading to egg shortages and trade disruptions. Europe witnessed over 2,500 outbreaks in poultry between late 2021 and mid-2022 and mass die-offs among wildlife, from cranes in Germany to outbreaks sweeping poultry farms in multiple countries, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. Asia, particularly Southeast Asia and China, remains a hotspot for human cases, while outbreaks in India and Cambodia in 2025 resulted in human fatalities and rapid culling of infected flocks. Africa continues to report sporadic outbreaks, often complicated by limited surveillance infrastructure. Notably, in late 2023 the virus reached Antarctica, raising fears for native fauna never exposed to bird flu before.

The virus’s global reach has triggered coordinated action. The World Health Organization and the Food and Agriculture Organization emphasize the necessity of strong surveillance, rapid response, and transparent reporting. The WHO’s October 2025 update highlights that while sustained human-to-human transmission has not occurred, high mortality, evolving clades, and growing mammalian infections are deeply concerning. Both agencies call for harmonized risk assessment and international information sharing—efforts that are increasingly vital as the virus’s genetic diversity expands through reassortment events.

Scientific communities worldwide are accelerating research. International consortia are working on genomic surveillance, risk modeling, and vaccine development. The United States, China, and European Union have vaccine candidates for both poultry and humans in advanced development, but mass vaccination faces regulatory hurdles and questions about cross-protection among evolving strains. Researchers stress the urgent need for vaccines that offer broad protection, as the virus’s genetic shifts outpace some existing candidates.

Trade has suffered, with poultry exports restricted and economic losses mounting in affected regions. Cross-border spread by migratory birds and international livestock trade present persistent control challenges. While the United States and Europe have resorted to mass culling and strict movement controls, countries in Asia and Africa frequently use ring vaccination and localized quarantine as primary responses.

National approaches vary, but all underscore that borderless pathogens require borderless preparedness.

Thank you for tuning in to H5N1 Global Scan. Come back next week for more. This has been a Quiet Please production. For more, check out quietplease.ai.

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