The Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (H5N1) bird flu virus that has already killed hundreds of millions of birds around the world is spreading across the US. Worse, the bird flu is spreading at a time when the 2024 US Presidential Election is not far away and the Joe Biden administration is reportedly not fully prepared to tackle the menace. Will the incumbent and the Democrats hopeful pay a hefty price at the hustings if the disease becomes another pandemic after Covid-19?

“Next global pandemic”

According to ‘New York Post’, the Biden administration is dangerously underprepared for the disease. The avian flu virus H5N1 has jumped to mammals in the last two years and more than 30 species, including homo sapiens, have been affected. Latin American scientists have reported in the prestigious journal ‘Nature’ that massive “sea lion die-offs” and warned about “mutations of concern” and “potentially evolving into the next global pandemic.”

CDC asks to be prepared

Though the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said bird flu risk to the public remains low, it has asked the state public health officials to be ready to respond. It has also asked the health authorities to make plans to quickly test and provide treatment to potentially impacted farm workers following positive results among cattle herds. The CDC has also suggested that state health officials inform it about any challenges they are facing.