Open Outbreak

Should I be worried about Avian influenza H5N1?

Updated · Graded from official assessments; nothing here is medical advice.

Avian influenza H5N1 · Attention: high

If you are in the affected area low
WHO assessed the risk to the general population as low in its H5N1 Cambodia notice on 5 July 2025. It said most human infections have been linked to infected birds, other animals, or contaminated environments. According to WHO
If you are elsewhere in the same country or region low
WHO said the risk to the general population was low in its latest returned H5N1 notice on 5 July 2025. The agency said almost all reported human infections have been linked to infected animals or contaminated environments. According to WHO
If you are travelling there soon low
WHO said on 5 July 2025 that the overall public-health risk from currently known influenza viruses circulating at the human-animal interface remained low. According to WHO
If you are elsewhere in the world low
WHO said on 5 July 2025 that the overall public-health risk from currently known influenza viruses circulating at the human-animal interface remained low. According to WHO

What is happening

Avian influenza A(H5N1) is being tracked worldwide mainly as an animal-health problem with occasional human spillover, not as a documented human-to-human epidemic. In the latest WHO notice returned here, published on 5 July 2025 about Cambodia, WHO said 986 human cases and 473 deaths had been reported globally from 2003 to 1 July 2025. On this page, media reports list 257 confirmed cases and 101 deaths, unverified, and +1 media this week. In the last 7 days, media and tracker items have described a reported first H5N1 detection in dairy cattle in Washington state, the first bird-flu outbreak of the 2026/27 season on the Isle of Lewis in Scotland, port checks after a reported outbreak in Suriname, and renewed poultry concern in India. WHO notices and recent local reporting describe investigations, surveillance and contact follow-up for human exposures, along with farm biosecurity, safe handling or culling of affected poultry, worker monitoring, public advice, and other containment steps around animal outbreaks.

Who is affected and how it spreads

Avian influenza A(H5N1) is a flu virus that mainly infects birds, but it can sometimes infect people. Most human infections reported to WHO have followed close contact with sick or dead birds, other infected animals, or contaminated environments. WHO says these infections are usually sporadic rather than ongoing chains of spread between people, and sustained human-to-human transmission has not been documented in the returned notices. Illness in humans can range from mild illness, including conjunctivitis, to severe pneumonia and death, and WHO says the risk is higher for people with occupational exposure to infected animals than for the general population.

What we are watching

Updates

Sources