TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — The price of eggs is not the only thing to worry about when it comes to bird flu. A University of Arizona researcher is trying to work out the possibility that bird flu might easily spread to us.
”We're looking every day at what's being found in these animals and humans to try to catch it, if it does happen, early, so that it doesn't become the next pandemic.”
Dr. Michael Worobey leads UA's Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. He worked to reduce the risk of COVID. Now he’s working on bird flu. It’s spread at first by wild birds which mix with chicken flocks. That’s led to efforts to seal off egg farms and kill flocks to contain the virus. Fewer hens mean fewer eggs at higher prices.
Now the virus has spread to dairy cows. They can be a tougher problem. Farmers may move cows place to place before anyone even knows they have the virus.
Worobey says, “So vaccines, I think, are really promising for cattle. I think they might actually make the difference and allow us to control it. In humans what we're looking for are these cases where it jumps in and starts picking up adaptations.”
Doctor Worobey says a few people have caught bird flu from exposure to wild birds or infected milk but the virus did not infect people around them.
He says his lab can watch for and detect the changes in the virus that make it more dangerous and more able to spread among us.
He says there’s no evidence the virus spreads through meat, and routine pasteurizing will kill the virus in milk.
Worobey says we have the tools now to develop effective vaccines very quickly.
“I don't think we're doing everything that we should to create a stockpile of vaccines that are directed toward this exact variant. More could be done there.”
