The epidemiologist Richard Pebody He is the head of the team that monitors high-threat pathogens at the World Health Organization, in the regional office for Europe and Central Asia. He is restless. The European continent is suffering the worst bird flu epidemic in its history, with more than 50 million poultry sacrificed in one year. A little over a month ago, the analysis of a lethal outbreak at a Spanish fur farm revealed that the virus most likely entered the facility via seagulls and was able to spread from mink to mink. This alarming mammal-to-mammal transmission, which had never been observed, sparked fear of a new pandemic. The virus has infected almost 900 people since 2003 and has killed more than half, but it has never been able to be transmitted effectively from human to human. Pebody, born in Staffordshire (England) for a number of years that he prefers not to reveal, sends a warning message. “Citizens must be reminded that if they see dead or dying birds or other animals, do not pick them up,” he warns by videoconference from his office in Copenhagen.
