Avian Influenza: Should the Public Be Concerned?

Stephen Redd, MD (RADM, USPHS), Director of the Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response (OPHPR) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), discusses if the public should be concerned by avian influenza.

Interview Transcript (slightly modified for readability)

“Avian influenza viruses infect birds. In the winter of 2014-2015 there was quite a large outbreak among poultry with several different avian influenza viruses. This was really of great concern, primarily economically, but also that this could somehow become an ongoing problem in poultry. No humans were infected, but millions of birds had to be destroyed because their flocks were affected.

This has turned out not to be a problem up to now with people. We still want to protect people [and] we want to make sure that the workers who are culling infected flocks are not exposed to virus. Up to now, we’ve been fortunate in that these viruses don’t seem to have a very high risk for infecting humans.”