Airmail Influenza

UK folk are concerned about the likely impact of bird 'flu on the availability of Christmas chicken, goose and turkey. The highly virulent H5N1 strain of the virus, is currently decimating wild bird populations. The recent outbreak has resulted in all domestic poultry being confined to quarters. 'Free range' birds and eggs are now things of the past. Devi Sridhar (University of Edinburgh) warns that, if the H5N1 strain jumps to human hosts, it could generate a new pandemic (https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/nov/09/bird-flu-mutation-h5n1-virus-strains-pandemic). Viruses are constantly mutating. Indeed, Covid19 made this jump, probably from bats to humans. A small number of people, intimately associated with poultry flocks, have apparently already been infected with bird 'flu. If H5N1 made its way into substantial numbers of humans, further mutations might well produce dangerous strains, geared to infecting our species, rather than birds. Biosecurity is currently being employed, attempting to prevent domestic poultry contacting wild bird viral vectors. Such security also needs to be 'beefed up' with a stronger emphasis on limiting passage of the bird 'flu virus to humans. Things are complicated in the UK, as the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is the country's favourite (and richest) charity. Many folk have wild bird feeders in their gardens. I suspect that RSPB members would be loath to stop feeding wild birds. Because birds fly, avian 'flu is capable of reaching all areas. In spite of complaints by some bodies, biosecurity (for many organisms) should not be an optional extra.