Bird Flu is Here

Cows in North America are getting bird flu. What happened? How did we get here? And is this the next pandemic? In this deep dive narrative history of avian influenza, SciShow takes on these questions.

Hosted by: Dr. Pardis Sabeti

Correction:
38:50 This video's consultants should be listed as Kelly Hills MPH and Dr. Nicholas Evans

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[catcando]

My youngest caught the bird flu in 2005. She was not even two years old. I took her to the family doctor when she had not urinated at all overnight. This was her only clue something was wrong. Everything else was normal, including eating. The doctor was scratching her head because she was not sure what was happening. We made an appointment the next day to get her fluids and the like if nothing had changed. 12 hours later, my little girl turned grey and was icy cold. We rushed her to the ER and upon entering the hospital, she stopped breathing. The lady at the desk took her from me and ran her to the back. They got her breathing and careflighted her to the children’s hospital 45 minutes away. Her lungs were so full of liquid they warned me she may not make it. One week later, my little girl got taken off the oxygen. One week after that, she was sent home. She still has breathing problems to this day but she survived. It was terrifying.

[ryanatkinson]

I can't imagine how soul crushing it is to be an epidemiologist/virologist right now
Edit: for all the science deniers replying, go ahead, advertise your stupidity

[FranBunnyFFXII]

2009 H1N1 Infected me and it let me learn about something else that no one talks about, 2ndary infections.
A 2ndary bacterial infection was allowed into my ears because my body was weakened trying to fight the H1N1 virus. This infection damaged my ears and now I am partially deaf in both ears.
I need hearing aids now.

[sarahleonard]

I work in a lab which is currently studying this virus in what seems like a crazy way: We're studying how the immune systems of ducks interact with it. That's because ducks are asymptomatic carriers, meaning when they get infected they don't get sick. We're racing to try to figure out what is so different about them, because then we might be able to translate that information into a treatment strategy.

[tml]

I got the flu in 2009 and was so sick so fast I hurriedly wrote a will on my laptop because I didn't think Id make it. I was 21 and in great health prior. It took months before the lung rattle was all the way gone. Severe flu doesn't play games.

[imranahmad]

H1N1 took my kid in 2009, this was in the UK, when death comes it doesn't discriminate.

[Hoehlenmaensch]

I think misinformation is going to be the real demon in future pandemics. Sadly.

[TheVeggieSalad]

I am a little shocked this video didn't mention that H5N1 has spread to domestic cats, as well. If we're talking about vectors close to the general population of humans, our pets are certainly an important one.

[jadedragon]

WASH YOUR BIRD FEEDERS FREQUENTLY. About once a week is what is typically suggested. When an infected bird interacts with a bird feeder, even when the bird has left, the virus has now contaminated the feeder and can spread to other birds. If you wash your feeders once a week, you can help to stop, or at the least slow, the spread. The less this virus spreads, the less chance for mutation it has. WASH YOUR FEEDERS PLEASE.

[matthewstapleford]

So many Americans where suspicious when the US offered a free vaccine BECAUSE US healthcare is not free. In Canada we were up in arms when the vaccine roll out (also 'free'), was slow. A completly different attitude.

[TheROMaNProject]

I’ve worked in medical research for over 30 years; this video is the absolute best presentation on the multifactorial, cross cultural, and science versus human nature I have ever seen. It sets forth the rise, potential and known risks, and medical plus epidemiological strategies for fighting the next pandemic. During the COVID-19 pandemic, this video would have been poo-poo’d by the government and deplatformed by the tech giants. Kudos!

[anathardayaldar]

Don't worry. The current US government will not allow public health officials to talk to the public. That should help bring egg prices back down.

[thatjeff]

My BIL was one of the leading immunologists working on isolating H5N1 back in 2019-2020. I'll skip saying his name but if the SciShow author wants to know, he was the CO of NAMRU-2 so that'd probably tell you who he is. Anyway, from what he tells me, he and his team AND the Chinese team they were cooperating with were so stressed and intent on isolating H5N1 to come up with a vaccine that everyone over there was caught flat-footed with SARS-2 (This was before it got tagged as COVID-19) starting the outbreak. They knew it was there, they knew it was extremely contagious, but they felt they had bigger fish to fry and the deaths were limited to: older patients who were also, (A) smokers, (B)had other respiratory diseases or infections, (C) in very poor health, and (D) in one province--Wuhan. The death rate was concerning but they felt H5N1 was going to be far more worse if they didn't isolate it.

And we now know how that went. COVID spread like wildfire because it is far more contagious. I think he said with the last strains physicians were looking at last year, you should just automatically assume you caught it at one point but for the most part it was so mild that you probably didn't notice.

And the reason why I bring all of that up is he believes that despite the "problematic" quarantine procedures we had in place (or in my words, "half-assed implementation") we might have isolated people just enough to delay H5N1 from spreading to humans back in '20. And due to the current US policies and overall mindset, there's a good chance we might be heading for another pandemic from H5N1 that will make COVID look like a dress rehearsal.

And if that wasn't bad enough, measles has shown up once more in Southwest Texas. For those that don't know, measles is insidious because it will infect your lymphatic system and wipe out your current immunity you've built up over the years, meaning you can get sick from diseases you were previously immune to.

Soooo.... yay?

[whisperingleaves]

A good analogy is that the mutations are similar to a password cracker algorithm, it just goes through all the possible combinations until it finds the right one. Allowing the virus more computational power (hosts) just speeds up the cracking/hacking process.

[rev.rachel]

I know masks have become wildly politicised, but it’s worth pointing out that deaths from flu *plummeted* when most of us were masking for COVID. Like from many thousands to some hundreds plummeted. Prevention makes a difference, and it may be the only thing that can slow this down if it’s coming, given the ways the current system in the US is biased against effective public information.

[fenrirgg]

My nephew came from a trip to USA recently (we're Mexicans) and he got sick a day after coming back to Mexico. After some days he was still very sick and went to the hospital, the MD was just making a generic check until my nephew said he came back from traveling in USA, then the doctor got serious focused and made a thourough check of weird things that are not just flu related. What's going on? I suspect MD's here are checking for bird flu already.

[thomashaapalainen]

I was 19 when i got H1N1. It rocked me so hard. For three days i was hallucinating and had made peace with my own demise. My goodness help us here in the u.s for the next 4 years if this becomes an issuse.

[j-pj]

SciShow being more reliable on informing us about things like this than the CDC and FDA says a lot. Keep fighting the good fight!

[johnle]

I’m currently in leukemia treatment and if bird flu hits now, I’m a goner. To the people who didn’t think helping others was compassionate and humane, thanks.

[SaraAnderson-dihf]

Great video. Thorough, calm, but with the urgency needed to take this seriously. So many media outlets should learn from Scishow. Thank you!