Bird Flu Is Raging on a Mink Farm. It Could Spark a Human Pandemic, Experts Say, but Officials Won’t Act. - ProPublica
A ProPublica investigation reveals that a bird flu outbreak at a Utah mink farm is being ignored by officials, raising concerns about potential human transmission. Experts warn that mink are ideal hosts for the virus to mutate into a pandemic-level threat.
Why it matters
The failure to contain a potential zoonotic disease outbreak poses a significant public health risk that could lead to a global pandemic.
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The strain of bird flu that’s ripped through American barns for the last four years has killed two people who caught it from sick animals. But as far as anyone can tell, humans can’t spread it. The virus has remained a true “bird” flu, tailored to attach to avian cells, not invade human throats and noses, where coughing and sneezing reliably spew droplets.
Under the right conditions, however, that could change. A single mutation could give the bird flu a foothold in people and spark a pandemic that experts fear could be deadlier than COVID-19.
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