Understanding the Threat of Bird Flu (H5N1)

The ongoing global highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N1) or bird flu outbreaks in animals and sporadic infections in people highlight the need for ongoing comprehensive surveillance and global public health preparedness. The 2.3.4.4b clade of HPAI A(H5N1) viruses has spread globally, resulting in a record number of outbreaks among various bird populations. Since January 2022, over 17,000 animal outbreaks have been reported to the World Organization for Animal Health by 80 member countries. In the United States, between January 2022 through October 24, 2023, USDA APHIS detected H5N1 virus in over 7,350 wild birds across all 50 U.S. states or territories and in 862 commercial and backyard flocks in 47 states or territories. Additionally, from May 2022 through October 2023, H5N1 was identified in 200 mammals of 20 different species across 26 states or territories in the U.S. The current threat assessment to the public is low however, due to the viruses' potential for rapid evolution and its widespread presence in wild birds and poultry, ongoing vigilance is important. Join moderator Dr. Syra Madad and a panel of experts to discuss the threat of the H5N1 bird flu virus.
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David Quammen
DAVID QUAMMEN is an American author and journalist whose eighteen books include The Song of the Dodo (1996), Spillover (2012), The Tangled Tree (2018), and Breathless (2022), which was a finalist for the National Book Award in Nonfiction and the Royal Society Trivedi Science Book Prize. His most recent book is The Heartbeat of the Wild: Dispatches from Landscapes of Wonder, Peril, and Hope(2023), drawn from his twenty years writing about wild creatures and wild places on assignments for National Geographic Magazine. Quammen’s shorter work has also appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Rolling Stone, and The New York Review of Books, among other magazines, and his Op Eds in the New York Times, the Washington Post, and other newspapers. He’s a three-time recipient of the National Magazine Award and has received several awards for his books, including the Premio Letterario Merck, given in Rome. He shares a home in Bozeman, Montana, with his wife, Betsy Gaines Quammen, author American Zion (2020) and True West (2023), plus three borzois, a cross-eyed cat, and a python.
Dr. Carlos del Rio, MD
Interim Dean - Emory University School of Medicine
Professor of Epidemiology and Global Health, Rollins School of Public Health of Emory University
Carlos del Rio, MD is a Distinguished Professor of Medicine and Interim Dean of Emory University School of Medicine. He is also Professor of Global Health and Epidemiology at the Rollins School of Public Health. Dr. del Rio is co-Director of the Emory Center for AIDS Research and co-PI of the Emory Vaccine and Treatment Evaluation Unit. A native of Mexico where he attended medical school graduating with honors in 1983. He did his Medicine and Infectious Diseases training at Emory. In 1989 he returned to Mexico where he was Executive Director of the National AIDS Council. In 1996 Dr. del Rio returned to Emory where he is involved in patient care, teaching and research. Dr. del Rio’s research focuses on improving outcomes for people with HIV and the prevention of HIV infection. He has worked for over two decades with marginalized populations to improve clinical care and outcomes in the U.S. and abroad and was named by the CDC Office of Minority Health and Health Equity as Health Equity Champion in 2021. He is the Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board of PEPFAR, member of UNAIDS Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee and President of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. Dr. del Rio was a member of the WHO Influenza A(H1N1) Clinical Advisory Group and of the CDC Influenza A(H1N1) Task Force during the 2009 pandemic. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. del Rio has been a leader locally and nationally. He was named as one of the “50 most trusted experts” and recognized by the HHS Secretary as a “Trusted Messenger”.
Dr. Neil Vora
DR. NEIL VORA is a physician with Conservation International where he leads its efforts on pandemic prevention. He served for nearly a decade with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In 2013, Neil led an investigation in the country of Georgia of a newly discovered poxvirus related to the viruses that cause monkeypox and smallpox. Neil deployed for CDC to Liberia in 2014 and to the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2019 to assist in the responses to the two largest Ebola outbreaks ever. From 2020-2021, Neil developed and led New York City’s COVID-19 contact tracing program, overseeing a team of over 3,000 people. He still sees patients in a public tuberculosis clinic in New York City. Outside of work, Dr. Vora loves to spend time with his rescue pets and to train in Brazilian jiu jitsu.