Lab Notes: Are we on the brink of another pandemic?

Belinda Smith: ABC Listen, podcasts, radio, news, music and more. Raina MacIntyre: It's very serious in that, you know, really since 2020, there's been this unprecedented increase in this one particular strain of bird flu, H5N1. Belinda Smith: This means a worker on a pig farm could pass the human flu to a pig and a wild duck might fly in and also give that same pig the H5N1 bird flu. Belinda Smith: Just to clear up any confusion, the bird flu that's recently been found in poultry farms in Australia, particularly Victoria, that's the H7N8 virus. Belinda Smith: Look, it may be too early to say this, but since we've seen one fatality in the US to this H5 strain of bird flu, do we know how serious this illness might be?