Study Claims Influenza Could Adversely Affect Pregnant Women

However, bird flu transmission to humans is rare.

A person holds a test tube in this picture illustration, on Jan. 14, 2023. Dado Ruvic/Illustration/Reuters

An Australian-led study has found the majority of women who get bird flu while pregnant will die along with the unborn baby.

The review published in Emerging Infectious Diseases was led by the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI) in Melbourne.

Scientists reviewed more than 1,500 papers that looked into 30 reported cases of bird flu in pregnant women from four countries.

“The review found that women died in 90 percent of cases when infected with bird flu during pregnancy with almost all their babies dying with them. Of the small number of babies who survived, 80 percent were born prematurely,” the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute said.

Following the study, the MCRI is now calling for more awareness to be raised on the “vulnerability of pregnant women to a new pandemic.”

Professor Jim Buttery said vulnerable populations were often at high risk of developing severe disease and death during pandemics.

“Pregnant women have experienced high death and critical illness rates during the influenza and SARS-CoV-2 [COVID-19] pandemics and the Ebola epidemic,” he said.

Buttery said ethical pandemic preparing to avoid preventable deaths required early inclusion of vulnerable populations in vaccine development, monitoring and trials.

“A pregnancy-focused research agenda should be developed and facilitated by medical review boards, regulators and policy makers,” he said.

Researcher Rachael Purcell said it was a priority to include pregnant women in pandemic planning as early as possible.

“Increasing numbers of human cases of avian influenza associated with outbreaks in birds and mammals raises concerns about the possibility of another pandemic in the near future,” she said.

“Despite being a high-risk population, pregnant women are often excluded from vaccine trials, priority access to therapeutics and delayed entry into public health vaccination programs.

Purcell said a paradigm shift was required to regularly include pregnant women in pandemic planning to avoid preventable deaths.

“This could be achieved through utilising the capacity of existing surveillance systems such as the Global Vaccine Data Network or the Vaccine Safety Datalink, the planning of vaccine trials to include the complex needs of pregnancy, and the upscaling of adverse reaction detection systems to identify risks in pregnant women,” Purcell said.

Transmission to Humans Rare

Despite the study highlighting the risk of avian influenza to pregnant women, New South Wales (NSW) Health and Victoria’s Department of Health say that human infections remain rare.

“It spreads mainly among wild water birds but can occasionally spread to humans, although this is rare. It can cause mild to severe illness in birds and other animals,” NSW Health said.

“Some strains cause no or mild disease in wild birds while others can cause severe disease in poultry, like chickens. Certain strains can infect mammals including seals, livestock, and occasionally humans.”

The most common strains of bird flu are H5N1 and H7N9. H5N1 was originally detected in 1997 in Hong Kong and reappeared in 2003, spreading rapidly to birds in Asia, the Middle East, America’s, Europe and Africa.

A U.S. National Institute of Health (NIH) funded study published on Dec. 6 also found the “risk of human infection continues to remain low.”

Health Minister Mark Butler also noted human infections with avian influenza were rare in a recent Australian government announcement of $95 million to fight bird flu.

“Although human infections with avian influenza viruses are rare and the current risk to the Australian population remains very low, there is no room for complacency,” he said.

California Declares State of Emergency Over Bird Flu

In the United States, California Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a State of Emergency on Dec. 19 following the spread of bird flu in 16 states including California.

However, the governor’s office noted no person to person spread of bird flu had been detected in the state.

Gov. Newsom said the risk to the public remained low, but they will continue to take all the steps needed to prevent the spread of the virus.

“This proclamation is a targeted action to ensure government agencies have the resources and flexibility they need to respond quickly to this outbreak,” he said.

In response to the news, California-based small business owner and personal freedom advocate Aaron Bergh wrote on X, “I am not putting the mask back on. I am not closing down my business. We’re not doing this again.”