The key facts, for me: > Since it was first identified, the H5 strain of avian influenza and its variants have led to the slaughter of over half a billion farm

The key facts, for me: > Since it was first identified, the H5 strain of avian influenza and its variants have led to the slaughter of over half a billion farmed birds. Wild-bird deaths are estimated in the millions, with around 600,000 in South America since 2023 alone – and both numbers potentially far higher due to the difficulties of monitoring. At least 26 species of mammals have also been infected. > Relatively few people have caught the virus so far, but it has had a high mortality rate in those that do: more than 50% of people known to become infected have died. and from https://www.sciencenews.org/article/h5n1-bird-flu-cows-milk-virus-health https://www.sciencenews.org/article/h5n1-bird-flu-cows-milk-... : > ...the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced that fragments of the bird flu's genetic material had turned up in grocery store milk. Initial results indicate that about 1 in 5 samples contain bits of the virus's RNA, the agency announced April 25. The question is whether this animal pandemic can evolve into a human pandemic.