How Worried Should You Be About Bird Flu? The Facts Conveyed by an UWS Expert

By Andrea Sachs

After weathering the pandemic, most of us have had it with viruses and vaccines. But experts nationwide are issuing increasingly serious warnings about HPAI (highly pathogenic avian influenza), more commonly known as the H5N1 virus or “bird flu.”

This highly contagious virus has already had a devastating impact nationally and worldwide on both farm and wild animals. Millions of birds on poultry farms in the United States have been culled (selectively slaughtered) to contain outbreaks. Cats, dogs, and most recently, dairy cattle, have been infected. There have also been deaths of a wide variety of wild mammals (foxes, raccoons, mountain lions, grizzly bears, and sea otters, to name just a few).

Over the last two years, bird flu has been found in animals in all 50 states, including New York. According to the New York City Health Department, “Bird flu has been found in poultry, wild birds (primarily water birds and raptors), and mammals in New York State, including New York City.” Just last Friday, Gov. Kathy Hochul ordered all live poultry markets temporarily closed in NYC and nearby counties for cleaning and disinfecting, according to The New York Times.

Now, scientists are expressing concern about the potential for a human pandemic. There have only been 67 confirmed human cases of bird flu in the U.S. since 2022. Fortunately, all but one of those cases have been mild, and, thus far, there has only been one death of an elderly person with underlying health problems in Louisiana who had exposure to sick and dead birds in backyard flocks. To date no person-to-person spread of bird flu has been detected. 

West Side Rag spoke with Rita McMahon, the cofounder and director of Wild Bird Fund (WBF), located on the Upper West Side. McMahon, a former WSR Upper West Sider of the Month, and the nonprofit WBF are working on the detection of HPAI with the Krammer Lab of Infectious Diseases at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

 At this point, there is no need for the public to overreact, but people do need to stay alert and informed, says McMahon.

“We must take precautions, like we used to take precautions with COVID,” she told the Rag, in an interview. “Avoid interacting with sick or dead birds or other wildlife. If you see an ailing bird or animal and want to help – and more than 10,000 New Yorkers bring ailing wildlife to Wild Bird Fund every year – you need to be very careful. Ducks, geese, gulls, hawks, and owls are considered high risk for bird flu, so don’t attempt to rescue them yourself. Call Animal Care Centers for pickup at 212-788-4000 (select option 8). If the animal is in a park, call the Urban Park Rangers at 212-628-2345, or call the WBF hotline at 646-306-2862 for help. 

“Other types of birds, like songbirds and pigeons, and the wild mammals found in NYC, are still considered low risk,” McMahon said. “If you decide to rescue an animal of low risk, wear an N95 mask and gloves, try to keep exposure to a minimum, disinfect everything that has come in contact with the animal, and bring the animal to WBF or your nearest wildlife rehabilitator.

“WBF is open every day of the year between 9 a.m. and 7 p.m., ” she added. “If you’ve been walking in the park, or other bird-friendly areas, clean off your shoes with a disinfectant. Visit the CDC website for more of their recommended precautions.”

Cats, and, less so, dogs, are susceptible, says McMahon, so it is important to keep pets from scavenging outside. “Cats in particular are subject to getting sick from bird flu and often die when they catch it,” she added. Don’t feed raw food or raw milk to yourself or your animals, she warns. “That’s where most of the cases are coming from.” For up-to-date information about pets, go to the American Veterinary Medical Association’s website.

The CDC and other health organizations recommend getting a seasonal flu shot. Getting vaccinated against seasonal flu can help prevent symptoms that might be confused with bird flu, making it easier for healthcare workers to identify potential bird flu cases. “What doctors fear the most is [that] someone who has not gotten the flu shot later gets the flu and then also gets exposed to bird flu; the viruses can exchange genetic material and become stronger.”

In January, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) gave Moderna $590 million to continue developing a vaccine against bird flu for humans that targets the strains of bird flu currently affecting wild birds, poultry, and dairy cows. In addition, there are already traditional H5 vaccines which have been stockpiled by the government. Experts predict that vaccines will ultimately be the best defense against the disease, as many believe they were against COVID. “It’s a challenge,” McMahon says. “All viruses keep mutating. So you have to know what’s out there now, or you might not have the effective tool against it. Very much like COVID 19. They kept changing the vaccine as it mutated.”

 According to the CDC, the most common symptoms of bird flu in humans are:

• eye redness and irritation (conjunctivitis)
• mild fever (temperature of 100ºF [37.8ºC] or greater) or feeling feverish,
• cough
• sore throat
• runny or stuffy nose
• muscle or body aches
• headaches
• fatigue

 While the human cases have been mild thus far, Dr. Jesse Goodman, a former FDA official and infectious-disease physician at Georgetown University, told NPR last month that it could evolve and become more dangerous. “This is like some brush burning around your house,” he said. “You better pay attention because it could turn into something else.”