I’m sure that this seems obvious to you, but it’s not clear to me… are you saying that human to human transmission isn’t worth worrying about, even if the virus mutated to be more infectious between humans?
Having a quick read, it seems like infections in humans range from unnoticeable to very severe, so I guess it’s going to be a question of the ratio between severe and mild cases, which is unknown level given that we would need a mutation before it became relevant.
Did I just answer my own question?
In any case, this threat to your dairy must be very stressful. Good luck!
Obviously we dont want anyone to get sick. But the normal cases that we have seen so far, the symptoms are mild.
These cases have been, for the most part, from individuals that had handled infected animals or had close proximity to them. Dairy workers, poultry farmers, back yard chicken enthusiasts, etc.
The more severe cases tend to be individuals with compromised immune systems or pre existing conditions.
What we want to avoid, and what has not happened so far, is the virus spreading from human to human. All cases so far are believed to be from infected animals infecting a human.
This is good.
Just like with covid, or any novel disease for that matter, the worst thing you can do is have a spillover event where a new virus mutates just enough to infect a new species and the infection is contagious between individuals in that population . The new bird flu has not reached that stage. It may eventually, or it may never. But for the vast majority of the population, dont touch dead birds, dont drink raw milk, dont lick bird poop off of park benches. And you will be fine.
I’m sure that this seems obvious to you, but it’s not clear to me… are you saying that human to human transmission isn’t worth worrying about, even if the virus mutated to be more infectious between humans?
Having a quick read, it seems like infections in humans range from unnoticeable to very severe, so I guess it’s going to be a question of the ratio between severe and mild cases, which is unknown level given that we would need a mutation before it became relevant.
Did I just answer my own question?
In any case, this threat to your dairy must be very stressful. Good luck!
Obviously we dont want anyone to get sick. But the normal cases that we have seen so far, the symptoms are mild. These cases have been, for the most part, from individuals that had handled infected animals or had close proximity to them. Dairy workers, poultry farmers, back yard chicken enthusiasts, etc. The more severe cases tend to be individuals with compromised immune systems or pre existing conditions.
What we want to avoid, and what has not happened so far, is the virus spreading from human to human. All cases so far are believed to be from infected animals infecting a human. This is good. Just like with covid, or any novel disease for that matter, the worst thing you can do is have a spillover event where a new virus mutates just enough to infect a new species and the infection is contagious between individuals in that population . The new bird flu has not reached that stage. It may eventually, or it may never. But for the vast majority of the population, dont touch dead birds, dont drink raw milk, dont lick bird poop off of park benches. And you will be fine.