>> Dozens of Illinois birds have been killed by the highly pathogenic avian flu, which is also infected some cattle and caused several severe human cases in the United States.

None of those human cases have been in Illinois, but several people have been infected in neighboring Wisconsin and Michigan.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed a total of 66 cases in humans.

The agency stresses that while the current public health risk remains low, bird flu should still be closely monitored.

Joining us on Zoom is set magli director of the Urban Wildlife Institute at Lincoln Park Zoo said thank you for joining us.

First, if you would remind us what is bird flu or avian flu?

>> Yeah.

as the name implies is it's an influenza virus that affects mainly birds.

part of the recently become concerned is because it can also impact animals, including humans.

And how is it spread?

So let's spread like most clues, mostly through airborne contact.

There's never been a case of a human to human contact of avian influenza, but it can spread 2.

You are one of your pets, for example, from the bird.

If you come into close contact.

>> And just to be clear, how is it for now?

How is it spreading from birds to humans?

>> So with as you said earlier, there's no cases in Illinois and most of the human cases involve people who work in poultry farms or otherwise closely with birds.

But we do have concerns about, for example, the fact that a lot of cats seem to be getting this disease, which makes sense because cats roam outdoors.

If they encounter a dead bird, they're likely to.

After that and so many this catch when they come home are worried that maybe the potential for spread to human.

So one of the things we're really strongly suggesting to folks is if you have cats, please keep them inside.

>> And as you said, and as we've said, no human cases in the state of with with great sickness.

But how is it affecting Chicago and Illinois?

>> There is, as you said, not not a lot of human cases really impacting our bird communities.

It's something, for example, at the zoo.

We're always on a close watch at 4.

We have many rare and endangered birds that under our care at the Lincoln Park Zoo, we have no cases as of yet, but it's something that we're watching very closely with our veterinary staff.

>> What is it that makes this strain is the H 5 n one strain particularly concerning compared to previous outbreaks of bird >> Yeah, 2 things.

One, it seems have a very high mortality rate of birds.

It kills a lot of the birds that in facts and another is it seems to be a little more able to infect other species like mammals, cats, humans, dogs than previous strains.

>> And as we mentioned, CDC experts are saying that right now the likelihood of human exposure in Illinois remains low.

What do we know about the likelihood of human exposure in Illinois?

>> Yeah, I would agree that it's very low were not aware of any cases and even worldwide the cases of humans contracting burgers or are very low.

But that said, we want to keep those rates low.

So if you see that birds or even really any dead wildlife in your neighborhood, never a good idea to contact or touch those specimens.

We always say about wildlife observed don't disturb.

You really can't help coming into direct contact with any animals that you see.

>> Are you concerned about a potential pandemic down the road?

If if if some of this, what we've already said change.

>> Well, I think the risk is low.

As the CDC is saying, I'm not overly concerned.

But like I said, I think about, for example, in urban areas like Chicago, the potential we have so many, for example, cats on the landscape.

We have many communities there seem to be actively trying to increase their cat populations to control rats or for other reasons.

And we know that cats are very susceptible.

We've heard about a big cat sanctuary in Washington state where half of the cats died from avian influenza.

So I do worry about that potential with the cats going in and out of houses impacting birds and then people that we could people start to be infected, which is, of course, the last thing we want.

>> And to that point, what is your advice to to cat owners?

>> Really just keep your cats inside.

There's really no risk as long as you keep your cats indoors.

So I think that's the key thing we can do to prevent human outbreaks.

>> And of course, we've also seen the virus contracted by cattle.

how does that affect our consumption of dairy products or or even beef products?

>> Yeah, you know, I think that we have very good food safety protocols in this country said of become overly concerned.

But I did to take us to bring things back to cats.

Again, I did hear some cases of cats were poultry in Iraq at food that had avian influenza that with an infected.

So it's always worth thinking about what both we and our pets But I think that we have a lot of good safety protocols in place there.

I don't think people should be overly concerned.

>> What steps you mentioned some what steps are you all taking at the zoo to be sure that you're protecting animals, but also your staff and visitors.

>> Yeah, we're trying to get the word out about things people can do to help.

I already mentioned keeping cats inside.

Another is when there's an outbreak like this and just take down your bird feeders.

Bird feeders create a place for birds to congregate closely together that can create disease transmission risk between those birds.

So I know verge a lot of fun to watch.

We all love our bird feeders.

But I think at a time like this, bring them in and put them back out after this sort of crisis has passed.

>> What steps are state agencies taking to prevent the spread of bird flu among wildlife, domestic animals?

Humans.

>> Yet the city these are always doing sampling of these different bird communities, trying to figure out where outbreaks happen, how we can predict prevent as well as laboratory testing to one of animal shows up to determine whether it died from avian influenza or some other cause.

So, yeah, those biologist who work in those agencies are really working tirelessly to protect both wildlife and the public.

>> mean, for people who hear about the bird flu may assume that this is mainly affecting wildlife.

There's no real cause for concern for the rest of us.

What you think people should care about the health of the urban wildlife ecosystem.

>> Yeah.

So what if you're in love with and student the zoo?

We're in a major research program in what's called one health of pregnant combined human animal and environmental health.

And we know that all of those systems are linked.

So when you have a huge outbreak of disease in the wild of community, for example, there could be the potential can spread to humans, but also just been negatively impacting our environment around us.

It can have really negative effects down the road.

We know that many of the most common human diseases that we all struggle with originate in animals.

A good example, of course, is COVID.

That virus actually originated in wildlife.

Really see that happening more and more.

So it's always worth keeping an eye on the health of our wildlife communities.

>> Do you ever think the illnesses like this are sort of reflective of of the states of the urban wildlife ecosystem and how it's how would how would how it's doing been treated and cared for.

>> Absolutely.

That's one of the reasons we study these diseases is as an early warning system.

And we think as a zoo at the Lincoln Park Zoo, we think we can be an excellent early warning system because we have animals from all over the world who are susceptible to all different types of diseases.

And when we see any kind of outbreak in our collection and the animals under our were in communication with U.S. public health and state health agencies to make sure that they know that there may be a an awful disease in the environment, but it's not absolutely critical to keep us all healthy that we keep an eye on how our environment is doing.

>> what do we know or what can we learn from previous outbreaks of avian flu?

>> Well, it's over.

It's a little different, right?

There different streams that one of the things that we know is that they can come to pretty quickly that can cause large mortality events.

But if we continue to be able to pinpoint where those outbreaks are happening, maybe what are the environmental factors that lead to a different type outbreak that we learned?

We get a little bit smarter for next time.

We become able to prevent those diseases and an amazing number of people are really working behind the scenes to try to make sure that these outbreaks don't