October 18, 2024
UW faculty discuss how the H5N1 bird flu outbreak could impact humans, our ecosystems
A major outbreak of a new strain of bird flu began circulating the world in 2020 and has killed millions of wild birds and infected poultry, dairy cattle and domestic cats to date. A few humans have also died from bird flu infection.
Federal health officials have deemed the Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 a low risk to public health despite four humans contracting the virus, with the most recently confirmed case experiencing flu-like respiratory symptoms.
UW News spoke with Peter Rabinowitz, University of Washington professor of environmental & occupational health sciences and of family medicine, and Julianne Meisner, assistant professor of epidemiology and of global health, to learn more about what is causing this bird flu virus to spread from animals to humans and how its transmission could impact the health of humans and our ecosystems.