{"id":19290,"date":"2024-04-05T17:31:52","date_gmt":"2024-04-05T17:31:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/05\/is-bird-flu-coming-to-people-next-are-we-ready\/"},"modified":"2024-04-05T17:31:52","modified_gmt":"2024-04-05T17:31:52","slug":"is-bird-flu-coming-to-people-next-are-we-ready","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/05\/is-bird-flu-coming-to-people-next-are-we-ready\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Bird Flu Coming to People Next? Are We Ready?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Bird flu outbreaks among dairy cows in multiple states, and at least one infection in farmworker in Texas, have incited fears that the virus may be the next infectious threat to people.<\/p>\n

The influenza virus, called H5N1, is highly pathogenic, meaning it has the ability to cause severe disease and death. But while its spread among cows was unexpected, people can catch the virus only from close contact with infected animals, not from one another, federal officials said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really about folks who are in environments where they may be interacting with cattle that are infected with this virus,\u201d said Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, the director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe risk for most everyone else is very low,\u201d he added. \u201cRight now, our risk assessment hasn\u2019t changed, but if it does change, we\u2019re going be pretty quick and pretty transparent about that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Avian influenza is often fatal in birds, but none of the infected cows have died so far. The only symptom in the patient in Texas was conjunctivitis, or pink eye, which was also reported in people infected during other bird flu outbreaks.<\/p>\n

The C.D.C. and other agencies in the United States and elsewhere have tracked H5N1 for years to monitor its evolution. Federal agencies have stockpiled vaccines and drugs to be used in a possible bird flu outbreak.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are more ready for an influenza pandemic than probably any other outbreak that could occur, any other pathogen,\u201d said Rick Bright, the chief executive of Bright Global Health, a consulting company that focuses on improving responses to public health emergencies.<\/p>\n

Dr. Bright led influenza preparedness at the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, or BARDA, the federal agency that supports research on vaccines and drugs for emergencies, for several years before he served as the agency\u2019s director from 2016 to 2020.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what you need to know about the H5N1 virus:<\/p>\n