The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the risk to human health of what are known as “zoonotic” diseases: human infections that have their origins in animal species. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that 60% of all known human infectious diseases involve pathogens that jumped from animal species to humans.
Recently, public health experts have become increasingly worried about a strain of avian flu known as H5N1, prevalent in birds and dairy cows, that has also infected humans.
Prof. Peter Halfmann, photo courtesy UW websitePeter Halfmann is a professor in the University of Wisconsin Department of Pathobiological Sciences who specializes in animal-human transmission. He spoke with Monday Eight o’Clock Buzz host Brian Standing to explain the threat that avian flu poses.
Featured image courtesy CDC website
Web posting by WORT producer Nicholas Wootton
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