After California declared a state of emergency on Wednesday in relation to the bird flu and Louisiana health officials announced the first severe case of a bird flu infection in a human in the U.S., concerns over the potential impact of this virus are growing.
Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of medicine and infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University, joined Scripps News’ “Morning Rush” to talk about health safety before the holidays.
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He said he agrees with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s guidance that the public health risk for bird flu is low. However, he said the regular seasonal influenza numbers are “skyrocketing.”
“If you haven’t been vaccinated against regular, seasonal flu, please run, do not walk. Get that vaccine as quickly as possible,” said Schaffner. “It will protect you against severe disease.”
Schaffner said with the severe bird flu case in Louisiana, it should be noted that the individual was older with underlying health conditions and a backyard flock of chickens — so the average person should not be too concerned.
“He apparently had a lot of exposure and undoubtedly got a very big dose of the bird flu virus from his birds,” Schaffner explained.
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As for concerns about the bird flu virus mutating in a way that could make it transmissible among humans, Schaffner said the current virus has been around for over 20 years and hasn’t mutated in this fashion yet.
However, he did note that it should not be ignored that this virus has mutated to infect other mammalian species like dairy cows, seals and more.
“Yes, we’re watching this very, very closely,” Schaffner said.
