This week we are discussing avian flu and the possibility that it might be the next pandemic ahead of us, just over the horizon. We get into the history of influenza outbreaks originating in domesticated animals, such as, most famously, the so-called "Spanish flu" of 1918 in order to calibrate how potentially worrying such an outbreak could be should it arise, particularly in the post-COVID political context in which we now live.
We also discuss the recent assassination of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson (we mistakenly call him Brian Johnson in the episode, apologies), the sudden fall of the Assad regime in Syria, as well as a worrying new disease which has recently emerged in Congo.
Reuters story on the Congo mystery illness:
https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/who-sends-experts-help-congo-diagnose-mystery-disease-2024-12-06/
ABC News story on early human cases of avian flu:
https://www.abc15.com/news/state/arizona-sees-first-case-of-human-bird-flu-in-pinal-county-health-officials-report#google_vignette
LA Times story on another early human case:
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-12-07/possible-h5n1-case-in-marin-co-child-source-of-infection-unknown
Scientific American story about the dangers of this influenza strain:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/bird-flu-virus-is-one-mutation-away-from-adapting-to-human-cells/
NPR story on raw milk and bird flu:
https://www.npr.org/2024/12/06/nx-s1-5220272/testing-usda-bird-flu-raw-milk-california

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