“The risk occurs when someone with human flu is working with birds infected with avian flu. Then gene swapping can create a hybrid which is the most dangerous type of flu.
This is more common in China where people live in close proximity to their flocks.”
Thank you for the info. I learn more here on this forum than I did from any formal education.
We once had a retired CDC scientist posting here, “Mother Abigail”. She had worked on Ebola, the original SARS, and various other dangerous and scary bugs. But the one that she said has the biggest potential to cause a near extinction event is hybrid flu. It kills adults in the prime of life, and not just the very young and the elderly with weak immune systems.
Being respiratory it is easily transmitted, and you can spread it before you know that you are sick. So anytime that you see swine flu or bird flu in the news you can be sure it has the rapt attention of CDC bug hunters.