Robert Redfield, the former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), warned of an impending bird flu pandemic with “significant mortality” in humans, emphasizing that it’s not a question of if, but when. According to the CDC, the highly contagious virus has “probably somewhere between 25 and 50 percent mortality” in humans.
The virologist pointed to a “progressive” increase in the influenza in birds, such as chickens, ducks, and turkeys in the U.S. since 2017. This has led to concerns as the virus has already jumped to mammals, detected in dozens of cattle across the country and even some dairy farm workers.
The first human case of death from the virus was reported in a 59-year-old Mexican man, who had no history of exposure to poultry or other animals, but had multiple underlying medical conditions and was bedridden for weeks prior to contracting the virus in April.
Redfield emphasized that once the virus gains the ability to attach to the human receptor and then transmit from human to human, a pandemic would be imminent. He expressed his certainty that a bird flu pandemic would occur, stating, “I really do think it’s very likely that we will, at some time, it’s not a question of if, it’s more of a question of when we will have a bird flu pandemic.”
To date, the largest American producer of fresh eggs, Cal-Maine Foods, Inc., had to temporarily halt production at its Texas plant after detecting bird flu in chickens in April.
