How anxious ought to we be about chook flu spreading to people?
Published 5:30 pm Wednesday, April 3, 2024
By Nina Moini and Ngoc Bui, Minnesota Public Radio News
The H5N1 avian flu has jumped from poultry to goats in Minnesota. In different states, the virus has unfold to cattle. In Texas this week, a man contracted the so-called chook flu after coming into contact with contaminated cows.
Michael Osterholm, the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy on the University of Minnesota, says the chance to people stays low regardless of the emergence of a confirmed human case.
“The virus doesn’t have the right lock and key to get into our cells as it does the bird cells and so the virus has to change some to have that happen,” he defined.
Nonetheless, Osterholm emphasised the significance of being ready for the following pandemic. “Pandemics are inevitable,” he mentioned. “They’re going to keep happening.”