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For more than two months, a virulent strain of bird flu has torn through thousands of mink at a Utah fur farm without decisive intervention, creating what experts describe as a dangerous opportunity for the virus to mutate and potentially ignite a human pandemic.
According to a ProPublica investigation detailed in the Post Register, the outbreak at C&T Fenn Farms, located about an hour south of Salt Lake City, began after state officials learned in mid-August that mink were dying of the disease. It marks the first documented case of avian flu in mink in Utah.
The same highly pathogenic avian influenza that has devastated American poultry and dairy operations for years has already claimed two human lives after animal exposure. While it has not yet shown efficient human-to-human transmission, scientists warn that mink—whose airways closely resemble those of people—could serve as the intermediate host needed for adaptation. Crowded conditions raise the odds of mutations that could allow the virus to attach more readily to human cells....<<<Read More>>>...
