Viewpoint: Avian flu is ‘wreaking havoc on poultry farms and spreading among cattle herds.’ Could it become a full-blown pandemic in humans? Yasmin Tayag | Atlantic | August 1, 2024

https://geneticliteracyproject.org/2024/08/01/viewpoint-avian-flu-is-wreaking-havoc-on-poultry-farms-and-spreading-among-cattle-herds-could-it-become-a-full-blown-pandemic-in-humans/?mc_cid=8206e3b4b5&mc_eid=b73600b7ac Since the current strain of bird flu, known as “highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1,” began spreading around the world in late 2021, it has become something like a “super virus” in its spread among animals, Richard Webby, an influenza expert at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, told me. Wild birds have been decimated, as have poultry farms: The virus has been detected in more than 100 million birds in 48 states. H5N1 has been around for longer than 25 years, but only recently has it regularly jumped to mammals, infecting cats, sea lions, and bears.