Are you watching bird flu?

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MM_Spartan@reddit

No, I’m too busy still watching Covid. I’m preparing for a winter of severe illness and death.

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National-Jackfruit32@reddit

The new straincauses diarrhea and vomiting

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Academic_1989@reddit

I can attest to this. Four months later and my stomach still has not recovered fully. I am a person who never has nausea, and this round of Covid changed that.

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National-Jackfruit32@reddit

It’s already here in the US https://northeastnorthcumbria.nhs.uk/news/nhs-warns-people-most-at-risk-to-protect-themselves-against-new-covid-19-variant/

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WHALE_PHYSICIST@reddit

thanks. honestly no clue why youre being downvoted.

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joelnicity@reddit

Remember when “not having symptoms” was a symptom?

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Bored_Acolyte_44@reddit

It still is. You can have and spread Covid without showing any symptoms.

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ManowarVin@reddit

While vaccinated. Sounds crazy because it is.

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Bored_Acolyte_44@reddit

Being vaccinated does not mean you're never going to catch something. They have always helped the body prepare to fight off an illness, but they have never been a guarantee that you will not be ill.

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mcapello@reddit

I’m preparing for a winter of severe illness and death.

Any particular reason? Genuinely curious.

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Ok-Surround9421@reddit

Because the COVID virus has had an extreme mutation and the US government is limiting vaccination. The new head of the health department also halted development of the flu vaccine.

No COVID vaccines, no flu vaccines. Winter, since people are indoors more, is when most pathogenic diseases like this have a heyday.

Couple that with the poor economy, more people will go to work while sick. More right wingers will refuse to mask at the early phase.

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I think being prepared for covid and flu means being prepared for whatever other illnesses are spreading. Have cleaning supplies, basic medical supplies, masks, etc. on hand and practice good hygiene. Both my kids got both types of flu last year (4 separate occasions), but we were able to avoid spread within the household with basic hygiene practices. (School exposure seems to be the weak point). We got through norovirus without it spreading too. Have also managed to keep covid to one person by masking/isolating.

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ErgoNomicNomad@reddit

I had swine flu years ago. meh. most of these are blown way out of proportion, with the exception that it can affect meat prices and farmers livelihood. I'm not saying don't be prepared, just don't make yourself crazy fretting over every illness out there.

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HomersDonut1440@reddit

Man, you know better than that. “My single experience is representative of the entire event” is not a reasonable argument or stance.

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F0xtr0tUnif0rm@reddit

Well I personally know 3 people that died from Covid but it didn't do much to me so I think they were just being dramatic.

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HomersDonut1440@reddit

Exactly. I got covid twice; it felt like a cold that made me fatigued for 3ish days. It was pretty easy to handle.

My dad caught it 5 times, and he slept 18 hours a day for 2 weeks every single time he caught it. My friends mom died from it. I guess they were just being little bitches right?

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F0xtr0tUnif0rm@reddit

I joke but it's actually concerning and annoying that we learned nothing and we'll be right back at it sooner or later.

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ErgoNomicNomad@reddit

Well, swine flu was a long time ago. It was yet another one of the pandemics that we were supposed to be afraid of and most people don't remember that it happened. So that tells you the level of impact that it actually had. That's my point.

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HomersDonut1440@reddit

I mean, that’s not what you said but okay.

Swine flu didn’t hit like Covid did, but it wasn’t a non-issue. I had friend stuck in china on a school trip for nearly two months after they contracted swine flu and got quarantined. It wasn’t a big deal in some areas.

We absolutely shouldn’t panic about every potential pandemic, because there’s always something on the horizon. I agree on that front. But to dismiss all potential issues out of hand because “well the last one didn’t hurt me so🤷‍♂️” is very shortsighted.

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TheRealBunkerJohn@reddit

Until there's proven sustained spread from human to human, I'm not worried.

If (or rather, WHEN) it mutates, it has pandemic potential. Thankfully, we're not there yet.

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InternationalRule138@reddit

Yeah, but anyone who knows even the slightest bit of virology knows that even with our best surveillance programs we likely won’t know there there is sustained human to human transmission until it’s too late to do anything about it.

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TheRealBunkerJohn@reddit

I agree- hence why prepping for a pandemic should happen before the official signs of one.

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apokrif1@reddit

So you wait until it's too late because PPE and medication (and perhaps other things, if many people are unwilling or unable to work) will be out of stock?

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Objective_War951@reddit

Agree. Ive had masks for 18 months

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TheRealBunkerJohn@reddit

Nowhere did I suggest not being prepared for a pandemic. Only that specifically Bird Flu I'm not that worried about just yet.

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gonyere@reddit

Yes. There's been FUD about bird flu for YEARS at this point. If/when it becomes an actual problem, I'll worry. Until then, no, I will not. I will continue to feed birds, to have 'free range' chickens, ducks and geese, outdoor cats, etc without change, the same way we've done forever.

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preppers-ModTeam@reddit

As people have pointed out in the comments and in numerous reports to the moderator team, H5N1 is not a new issue and has been discussed here many times before, so the only new aspect of this particular post was your assertion that people in Cambodia are getting it "nearly daily," which was found to be a serious exaggeration debunked by the credible source in the top comment and by additional sources found during the moderator check in response to users' reports.

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cerseiwhat@reddit

"edit: to be clear, people are regularly getting it in Cambodia (nearly daily). The more it is in people, the more it has a chance to mutate in people ways."

Twelve people in Cambodia have gotten it since the start of 2025- that is nowhere close to "nearly daily". Under 100 have gotten it since 2003.

Source 1

WHO source- 83 since 2003. Mentions 11 in 2025 because it's prior to the 12th most recent case.

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MegaGrubby@reddit (OP)

And 100% of cases have been reported...

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cerseiwhat@reddit

What source(s) did you use that said Cambodians were "regularly" getting it to the level of it being "near daily"?

I like facts...I also like civil conversation and am willing to admit when I am wrong.

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Comfortable-Angle660@reddit

Zero concern here. I remember before the flu vaccine was common place, and home many people in my church’s concentration passed on. Hint, quite a few.

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Global-Cheesecake922@reddit

Definitely not on my top list, more so looking at civil unrest/ world conflict/ climate change.

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Charliecausintrouble@reddit

We still have active clinical trials for bird flu, and have been working on various ones for the last 4-ish years. It’s just primary in people who work close to poultry and not all healthy volunteers at this point.

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Ok-Surround9421@reddit

Finding has been pulled for most of these, unfortunately.

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Charliecausintrouble@reddit

Only a handful of the vaccine studies we run at our clinics are government funded, we still have patients active in several of the avian/bird flu studies throughout the US. All of the studies we are conducting at our clinics are being run in other countries as well.

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EffinBob@reddit

No.

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xeriopi45@reddit

Rats from Europe 2026/2027

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AlphaDisconnect@reddit

It is a risk. A few mutations from being a real problem. But only a problem for birds now.

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Plantparty20@reddit

And cattle

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AlphaDisconnect@reddit

Also a definite possibility.

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cerseiwhat@reddit

It already impacted cattle last year- CA had the most cases in dairies (766), Idaho was second with 100+, and TX had a lot as well (mainly in the panhandle).
Current cases are MUCH lower and many states currently aren't reporting any outbreaks in the past month.

CDFA source
USDA source. Click on "total outbreak" on the map

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Lethalmouse1@reddit

They keep doing that over and over again. The only thing to watch is human overreaction causing problems.

Mass hysteria is scary.

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PeanyButter@reddit

Ironically IMO, we should be worried about the human underreaction. If something hit with a nasty mutation, the humans running around yelling it's fake, and getting in your face because a fake nurse on tiktok said it's not real and it can't hurt you would be my concern.

Everybody thinks they know what they're talking about. Many people will shit on someone for wearing a mask and never stop to consider whether that person has an immunocompromised system.

The worst overreaction in covid was probably people buying too much toilet paper. Or a secondary side effect of people fighting and someone pulling a gun over it and someone getting killed which I'm sure happened.

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Lethalmouse1@reddit

It is simultaneously always that scary, and never that scary.

You should either always be in "covid mode" or you shouldn't be.

Colds, corona variants, etc, are top killers of the same people every year.

Grandma always dies of corona....always has.

So, mask all the time, or don't mask over corona.

See, there is the show Monk, when the theme song plays it says, "if you knew what I know, you'd be like me too."

But that is a contrast... I'm 2000% on board with Monk... I'm zero % give a shit.

I consider it a real possibility that I could go pump gas and get a flesh eating bacteria any day. I can get a parasite up my wee wee at the river.

It is what it is.

If I die, I don't have to go to work no more. And my life will have been worth living bro.

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NickMeAnotherTime@reddit

Corporations collude and learn how to manipulate us through discourse.

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HRslammR@reddit

Its simpler than that: news agencies just want views for the clicks. You know what does that? Fear.

News: di-hydrogen oxide is fatal in large quantities! Do you have this potential killer in your home?!

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NickMeAnotherTime@reddit

Absolutely. This is however a by product. The real thing is mainstream media is dog trash and keeping us misinformed, paid by the wealthy to distract us however they can.

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Lethalmouse1@reddit

Remember this:

If me and you, two random fuckers, think something earnestly or falsely. (So whether we be true believers or liars), and we preach it, for 10 years, and only make 20 true believers....

So imagine we did lie, so it is techncially a "conspiracy" and we mostly "fail" because we die having only made 20 people believe us.

Now there is no more "conspiracy" because there are no liars secretly working together. But there are 20 independent true believers. And they make 200. And they make 2000....

Some people will say it is a conspiracy, but... it kind of is, kind of isn't.

I'd put a lot of money down that Jospeh Smith is 1:1 South Park.

I'd also say that almost every Mormon in existence, the millions of them, are "true beleivers." Meaning when you talk to one, they are not scamming you like Smith scammed people. They are honestly trying their best to live a good life and help you, improve the world etc.

So, I'm not even sure that too many "collusions" are the way that sounds. They are just true believers of BS trying to do relative good.

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smsff2@reddit

Good thinking.
I actually did this when I was a kid at a Boy Scout camp, and that’s exactly how it unfolded. It played out over the course of three summer months. In June, I said I had seen something like a UFO landing in the woods (it was probably a meteorite). By the end of the summer, I was hearing extremely detailed stories about top-secret paramilitary organizations fighting aliens in our woods, with their destroyed equipment supposedly scattered all over the place.

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Lethalmouse1@reddit

Nice.

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Usernamenotdetermin@reddit

Social media has evolved into game theory to transfer rational people into virtual lemmings. Inadvertently I believe. But nonetheless, something to be concerned with.

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AdPowerful7528@reddit

Bird flu infects people worldwide every year. Close proximity to birds, poor sanitary conditions, and eating raw or undercooked meat are the main drivers.

If and when it becomes widespread or has a particularly nasty strain, it will do some serious damage. That, however, is unlikely at this time.

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ChaosAnalyst@reddit

This is fear mongering at its finest.

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PHealthy@reddit

Cough cough r/ID_News

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LunaSea1206@reddit

The US has not stopped making avian flu vaccines for humans. My husband develops new ones regularly. They aren't distributed to pharmaceutical companies, but the base vaccine is made so there is something available to submit should the unthinkable happen. He has specialized in an infectious disease lab focused on avian flu for over 20 years. His lab keeps on top of the mutations, migration patterns and outbreaks that are most commonly found in poultry farms. They work with labs around the world to share samples and the latest data. His research lab is not the only one in the US that does this. Our government cut funding to the CDC, but not to all the research hospitals that specialize in infectious diseases.

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King_GC@reddit

I honestly had no idea of either one

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Mala_Suerte1@reddit

No. I'm aware of it, but not going out of my way to follow it. It wasn't hard to see Covid coming, it'll be the same with the bird flu.

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xelidus@reddit

I'm new to looking out for these situations, could you explain why it wasn't hard to see covid coming? Or recommend any sources that explain it?

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Mala_Suerte1@reddit

Pretty much what u/IamBob0226 said. In late 2019, there were already numerous news stories coming out of China talking about Covid. Infrared satellite imagery showed that their crematoriums were running 24/7.

Late December, early January (2020), you started to see reports of Covid spreading to other countries. And by that time, there were people living in China reporting on YT what was happening.

Just for kicks and giggles, I read some conspiracy news sites and occasionally you'll see a story that warrants further research. I never trust just one site for anything. I always look for additional sites and hopefully they're not just quoting the exact same source. A lot of the propaganda bouncing around FB right now is different people and news agencies quoting the same questionable source.

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IamBob0226@reddit

You will be fine if all you did was follow this sub and filter out the b.s. For myself, I could "see covid coming" when posts about something happening in China. It was kind of Hollywood ish, but it wasn't going away. This was November/December 2019. Rumors and videos of people dying in the streets or the rumors of excessive use of crematoriums got my attention.

Kept one eye on it til it crept into the main stream media. Once Duke announced they were not going to accept an NCAA tournament bid in early march, I baton down the hatches and everything went to hell.

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HurryAmbitious9250@reddit

Yep I am

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Goofygrrrl@reddit

Certainly what’s been happening in Cambodia is concerning. They’ve had 9 human cases since June. But we can expect the US to stay relatively safe throughout summer as many birds have migrated north and they are a primary vector. As the US based flyaways start being used again in the fall, we will once again see spikes here. The hope is that the virus hasn’t undergone a significant change while it was away

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WHALE_PHYSICIST@reddit

I've never seen that word, flyaways, before. What do you mean they are "used"?

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Goofygrrrl@reddit

So sorry, I didn’t realize it autocorrected it to flyaways. Yes. The migratory bird flyways. There 4 that traverse the US, and are the major routes for migrating birds

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F0xtr0tUnif0rm@reddit

Yup. Been in my bunker watching bird flu for the last year now. Let me know when I can come out.

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onemanmelee@reddit

The bird flu... it's coming from .... INSIDE THE BUNKER!!! (dun dun DUNNNNN!)

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MrsRichardSmoker@reddit

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Someguyintheroom2@reddit

The builders misunderstood what I meant by bird bunker, but I’ve got the world’s most prepared chickens.

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onemanmelee@reddit

It said "Now With Extra Flu!" right on the box!

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Bl00dEagles@reddit

You’re more likely to get brain cancer and die than that amounting to anything, so no.

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Spiley_spile@reddit

Among other things, I prep for pandemic scenarios (physical, social, and mental prep) Covid is still around. I havent paused my mitigation efforts and after 5 years this is just normal for me. Because of my immune system, I have to test for covid multiple times a week. I have a high level of confidence my efforts continue to succeed. Ive not caught covid, symptomatic or not.

Not all illnesses transmit the same way. If bird flu ends up transmitting via large droplet or aerosol to the mucus membrains in the eyes, for instance, I'll need to update my PPE. At the moment, Im keeping covid precautions active, protecting my immune system from illnesses that could impair it (ie measles, covid, hiv), not handling birds, thoroughly cooking meat and eggs, not drinking raw milk, and not wearing shoes in the house.

Im mainly concerned for others.

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zaraguato@reddit

I've been following h5n1 since the swine flu of 2009, it's super deadly buy not very infectious to humans, I'm worried of a mutation from a human already sick with human flu and at the same time infected of h5n1 (from poultry), then inside these patient zero I fear the h5n1 can get the transmissibility from the human flu and that's when apocalypse happens

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After-Leopard@reddit

I made a bunch of google alerts for various virus I'm keeping an eye on. I thought it would increase my anxiety but it's actually reassuring to know that every Monday I get an email with updates. I usually don't even click through, just the headlines are enough to know what is going on.

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Plantparty20@reddit

Im pretty sure there is a human vaccine being offered to high risk individuals (farmers and vets) of not in the USA then in different countries?

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-Luro@reddit

Didn’t the CDC just release a statement that it is ending the pandemic or endemic response or something like that?

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SunLillyFairy@reddit

I can't keep up... and doom scrolling was bringing me down. There are so many risks right now. My daughter is going off about pole flipping, AI is quietly marching towards domination, and the weather is getting pretty violent. WW III is brinking daily and our president is making special lists of "inferior" humans. Sure... add in a virus threat.. it's another legit risk. I just think it's a good time in history to be prepared. Also a good time to enjoy the time we have, as you never know what tomorrow will bring.

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Pea-and-Pen@reddit

That’s the way I feel. It’s all too much. I’ve been prepped as good as I can for something like that prior to COVID. But at this point it’s just one more slide in the shit show of our world, especially the U.S.

Maybe I’m looking at it wrong but I feel like a possible bird flu pandemic is farther down the list of worries right now. The U.S. is imploding and that’s causing me more concern at the moment. However, I will watch it and continue to keep up with my preps.

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signoftheteacup@reddit

As far as I recall, the US has approved a bird flu vaccine for poultry, but is not yet using it. The current vaccine is leaky and they are worried about it making things worse. I believe they are using in some other countries. So far this year (in the US) seems a little mellower on the bird flu front. However there are large breakouts in South America that will spread north during fall migration. There's not much to be done as far as personal protection goes at this point. Be extra careful about biosecurity if you have poultry. Be mindful around wild birds and their droppings. Wear a mask in crowded spaces.

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agent_flounder@reddit

Keeping aware but also keeping level headed. I know it's out there. It isn't able to spread between humans at this time. Until it does, there is no way to really assess the risk level. I'm not gonna freak out about it, just stay informed.

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HerezahTip@reddit

Not even a little.

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SuchVanilla6089@reddit

Self-assembly and semi-biological organisms possess bigger threats

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PrisonerV@reddit

Bird flu already killed a bunch of birds in the US.

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mediocre_remnants@reddit

I don't see much value in tracking or trying to prepare for each individual possible pandemic. I have what I need to get through another COVID-style pandemic, or even something far worse, so there's not much left to do even if I was 100% sure another pandemic was coming and even knew exactly when.

If there's a report of folks in my state being infected, I might change my behaviors a bit and avoid crowds for a while, but otherwise... I have other shit to worry about in my day to day life than H5N1 infection rates in Cambodia.

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Th3HappyCamper@reddit

Yeah there are some signal chats circulating with scientists and doctors sharing information. I know some people just assume it’s some mass panic and we’ve heard stuff about it for decades.

The problem is that the USDA and CDC don’t have the same resources for quarantining and culling herds of infected birds and cows. They’re keeping it hush hush for whatever reason but hopefully they just figure that shit out so I don’t have to think ab it.

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