Fury of the Flu

Back in 2020, when coronavirus was first exploding onto the scene, there was a lot of speculation that this might just be the first of many pandemics we'd be dealing with - in effect, the start of a new normal.  That was obviously a thought that troubled a lot of people, myself included.  Towards the end of the pandemic, I thought that it was our trial run.  We'd learned some valuable lessons about what worked and what didn't work, and we'd be better prepared for the inevitable next day.

Man, was that naive.

I've thought about that a lot lately in the context of HPAI - bird flu.  Avian influenza has been a headache for our profession - and anyone else dealing with birds - for the past several years as more frequent and more virulent strains arise, and spread into a wider array of species.  It seems like the disease has just touched the public consciousness for the first time, however - probably because the price of eggs was a frequent talking point during the recent presidential election, and egg production has been severely impacted by bird flu.   Part of me thought, well, at least we're all talking about this disease and maybe more folks will take it seriously - better reporting, better monitoring, better adherence to biosecurity protocols.  

Again, naive.

As far as I can tell, what originally started off as resistance to first masks and social distancing, and later COVID vaccines, has since mutated (not unlike a virus) itself into a wide ranging distrust of any medical science.  When I read an article about bird flu, the comments are filled with people who refuse to believe in it.  Maybe it's a Deep State plot of undermine the poultry industry to make Trump look bad (not that he generally needs much help there.)  Maybe it's the result of chem trails or 5G or whatever we're all supposed to be afraid of this week.  When Lincoln Park Zoo reported that a seal and a flamingo died of the disease, some people suggested that the Zoo was covering up bad animal care practices by blaming the deaths on the disease (which must have been heartbreaking and infuriating for LPZ staff).  When they read about deaths of chickens - "Why is this only happening in chickens?"  When it happens in other species - "They heard us complain that it only happens in chickens, so now *they* (whoever the hell "they" are) are making this up too!"

The general consensus among many uninformed folks is that the disease was recently made up by that shadowy "them" to make their lives more miserable and more expensive - after all, they'd never heard of it before.  Which is frustrating because so many of us have been working on tracking the disease and protecting our birds for many years now.  But, I guess it's true, everything looks like a conspiracy if you don't bother to learn how anything works.