Bird flu, or avian influenza, is spreading among livestock and other mammals in the United States, raising concerns that another pandemic may be looming. Last month, California declared a state of emergency due to rising cases in dairy cattle, and there have been over 65 human cases in the U.S. during this outbreak. While cases have been largely mild and risk to the public is still considered low, scientists warn it could evolve and become more dangerous. Curious about other health updates? Email us at [email protected] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
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You're listening to Shortwave from NPR. Hey Shore Wavers, Regina Barber here to talk about the bird flu, also known as avian influenza. It's spreading among livestock and other mammals in the U.S. and raising fears that another pandemic is in our future. So bird flu got into the news when a farm worker was infected in the spring of last year.
And last month, California declared a state of emergency due to rising cases in dairy cattle. So here to parse through the data is health correspondent Will Stone. Hey, Will.
Hey, Gina.
Will, you've been monitoring bird flu ever since the first case almost a year ago, and there's so much to cover. But can we start with like a refresher? What's happened like so far?
Sure thing. So there have been more than 65 human cases in the US during this current outbreak. And there's reason to believe that's probably an undercount. Luckily, these have largely been mild. Many are presenting as conjunctivitis and sometimes as a cold, although there have been a few that have resulted in serious illness.
And just to refresh listeners, a bird flu infection starts when the protein on the virus binds to a receptor on the cell it wants to take over. This is the HA protein on the bird flu virus. Luckily, the version of H5N1 spreading in cattle has not evolved to target the receptors that dominate upper airways in humans in the way that people get infected with seasonal influenza every year.
That would be a key step in the path to this becoming a pandemic.
But scientists warn it could evolve, right, and be more dangerous. I mean, do you have a sense of how worried scientists are?
Yeah, scientists who study influenza have told me they are about as worried as they've ever been about a potential bird flu pandemic. Now, that doesn't mean it will necessarily happen. Dr. Jesse Goodman, an infectious disease physician at Georgetown University and a former FDA official, put it this way to me.
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