Hey, it's Flora Lickman, and you're listening to Science Friday.

Remember last winter when we were hearing a lot about bird flu?

There are new fears in this country about the potential impact of the H5N1 bird flu on humans.

It was concerning because there were confirmed cases in people and outbreaks in dairy cows

and other mammals.

But this year, besides sporadic local reports of dead birds, the story seems to have flown

off the national news radar.

So is not that much news actually good news?

And how closely are we tracking bird flu after Doge cuts?

Here with the flyoverview is Dr. Seema Laktawala, co-director of the Center for Transmission of Airborne Pathogens, and an associate professor at Emory University in Atlanta.

Seema, thanks for being here.

Thanks for having me.

Give us a status report.

Where are we with bird flu this year?

Yeah, I think, as you've mentioned, we don't have a lot of reporting happening, but it is still very prevalent, especially in backyard poultry, poultry, and in migratory bird populations.

If anybody just Googles bird flu, you will get a variety of headlines of, you know,

vultures falling dead or geese or fears of outbreaks in elephant seals in California.

But what we aren't seeing is a lot of information anymore about dairy cattle.

But we should all be concerned

again about egg shortages. You know, states are culling millions of birds to try to still contain

this outbreak in poultry farms. That's ongoing. And, you know, that interface is continuing. The

virus is continuing to circulate in the U.S.

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