Gripe aviar ¿una nueva pandemia?

The H5N1 influenza virus is a pathogen that primarily affects wild and domestic birds. It was discovered in China in the late 1990s. According to monitoring carried out by the health systems of each country and global entities, an increase in the reporting of cases in animals has been seen. Infections in mammals have been documented, which suggests the capacity for viral mutation; At a global level, there are records of human cases, in the United States, 67 cases and one death attributable to the virus in question have been reported in 2024, in the Americas, cases in humans in the years 2020 to 2021 were zero, in subsequent years there has been an increase in infections in people, with 2024 being the year with the highest number of infections recorded in this region, which makes us think of a possible threat to global public health and adopt biosecurity, notification and epidemiological monitoring measures, which is why the objective of this article is to make an epidemiological update of the current situation in the Americas regarding the H5N1 virus.