Why sick minks are reigniting worries about bird flu

By MIKE STOBBE
AP Medical Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — A recent bird flu outbreak at a mink farm has reignited worries about the virus spreading more broadly to people. Scientists have been keeping tabs on this bird flu virus since the 1950s. It wasn’t deemed a threat to people until a 1997 outbreak in Hong Kong among visitors to live poultry markets. The fear is that the virus could evolve to spread more easily between people, and potentially trigger a pandemic. Recent concern among public health experts has been fueled, in part, by detection of infections in a variety of mammals, including a large mink farm in Spain.