Avian flu... in cows?!?
A few years ago, I was walking through an exhibit about outbreaks at the Smithsonian Museum. Little did I know that my life (and the whole world) would drastically change because of SARS-CoV-2 (aka COVID-19). Aside from giving birth during the early part of the pandemic (and being indoors most of the time), my career shifted towards public health microbiology . The Smithsonian exhibit about outbreaks featured influenza and how easily it can be transmitted from various animals to humans. A strain called H5N1 is known as avian flu because it is found typically in domestic poultry in Asia. According to the exhibit, this strain is not known to be spread from person to person. Instead, humans usually get it from exposure to sick or dead birds. Epidemiologists are most concerned about H5N1 (or any other strain of avian flu) infecting another animal AND a flu strain from a human infecting the same animal. The flu strains' genetic material may recombine and become a brand-new strain that...