After SARS-CoV-2, will H5N6 and other influenza viruses follow the pandemic path?

Abstract

While the world is focused on attending, controlling, and mitigating the current pandemic of COVID-19, caused by the SARS-CoV-2, other viral threats are possibly emerging and reemerging especially in Asia, posing a risk for the spread in that region and beyond. A predictable threat is the avian influenza virus, especially H5N6, which has recently led to significant outbreaks in China and the Philippines, deserving more attention and control. In the current review, we assess the history of this highly pathogenic reemerging virus, as well as the contemporary implications of poultry outbreaks occurring in some Asian countries. We also look at outbreaks due to other strains not only in Asia but also across Europe and Africa, according to recent reports from the World Organization of Animal Health (OIE).