Bird flu is back in the news after a Texas dairy worker tested positive for the virus in the first documented case of bird-cow-human transmission.
So of course, a cacophony of 'experts' are now warning that a bird flu pandemic could be '100 times worse' than COVID.'
"This virus [has been] on the top of the pandemic list for many, many years and probably decades," said Pittsburgh bird-flu researcher Dr. Suresh Kuchipudi, during a recent panel cited by the Daily Mail.
"And now we’re getting dangerously close to this virus potentially causing a pandemic," he continued. "So therefore, in my view, I think this is a virus that has the greatest pandemic threat [that is] playing out in plain sight and globally present."
The Mail also cites pharmaceutical vaccine consultant and BioNiagra founder John Fulton, who said during the same meeting: "This appears to be 100 times worse than COVID — or it could be if it mutates and maintains its high case fatality rate."
"Once it’s mutated to infect humans, we can only hope that the [fatality rate] drops," he added.
Meanwhile there's this Feigl-Ding, who rose to e-prominence during the pandemic as an extreme fear monger:
⚠️WAIT HOLD UP—Pasteurization of milk actually may **not** neutralize all viruses sufficiently to stop infectivity—“many viruses cannot”. It seems that fat globules in whole milk and 2% fat milk can protect viruses from high temperature pasteurization (dairy research shows for… pic.twitter.com/17B6HVULBu
— Eric Feigl-Ding (@DrEricDing) April 4, 2024
Approximately 52% of those who have contracted H5N1 since 2003 have died, according to the WHO.
That said, according to CDC Director Mandy Cohen, "the whole U.S. government is taking this situation very seriously," but the virus does not pose much of a risk to the general public. That said, they did just warn not to drink raw milk.
Another voice calling for calm is David Swayne, who has worked on bird flu cases in animals for decades.
"Right now, for the cattle cases — there is no knowledge, so that's easy for the alarm to be raised," he told the Mail. "There is a huge lack of knowledge that we need to fill."
"Let's look at the facts and look at them with reason, we don't really know that much today because of the knowledge gaps that we need to fill."
Others such as UK-based epidemiologist Dr Francois Balloux posted to X: "'People not professionally involved in pandemic prevention/mitigation being worried/feeling miserable now won't make any material difference to what may hit us, except that their life would suck, far more than it should."
The situation might change for the worse, eventually, but people not professionally involved in pandemic prevention/mitigation being worried/feeling miserable now won't make any material difference to what may hit us, except that their life would suck, far more than it should.
— Prof Francois Balloux (@BallouxFrancois) April 2, 2024
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Perhaps that will change in time for the 2024 election if the 'gain-of-function' guys have their way with it.