How Not to Prevent a Pandemic
A primer on bird flu.
Missouri recently reported the first human case of bird flu in the U.S. By that, health officials mean the first person "with no known animal contact." Since then, we’ve learned that two healthcare workers there likely became infected but weren’t tested. According to Helen Branswell at Stat News, “This makes the second time that possible cases… have come to light well after the fact.” And yet, the CDC continues to insist that “the risk to the public remains low.”
This is not how to prevent a pandemic.
As infectious disease expert Michael Mina recently warned, "Given how few people get tested for flu, we have no idea how widespread H5 really is."
You know how these things work...
While Finland rolls out bird flu vaccines to its vulnerable populations, the U.S. has done virtually nothing to prepare, and nothing to respond to the rampant spread on dairy farms. Earlier this year, the USDA announced plans to "identify infected herds and wait for the virus to die out."
The operative …