Bird Flu Threatens Worldwide
Deadly Flu Strain Kills Millions of Animals, Few Humans
Experts Seek to Understand Disparity
In the last two years, bird flu has killed millions of wild and domestic birds and mammals worldwide, but it seems to have hardly touched humans. Scientists are trying to understand why.
The flu strain's ability to lodge in the brain and nervous system is one possible reason for the higher mortality rate in some species, said Amy Baker, a veterinary epidemiologist at the University of California, Davis.
Worldwide, doctors have detected 15 human infections caused by the widely circulating bird flu strain. The count includes one death, a 38-year-old man in Cambodia.
One recent study documented the presence of bird flu-friendly receptors in dairy cattle. This finding suggests that the virus could potentially infect and spread among these animals.
Experts are concerned that the virus could mutate and become more easily transmissible to humans. If that happens, it could cause a global pandemic.
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