Post Reply - pandemic strategies (or lack of it !)

Missouri has 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." It's probably not the first case, just the first one we're hearing about. 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 word here is wait. If we've learned anything from the current pandemic, it's that viruses don't die out. They evolve. They adapt.

They spread.