1631028
‘Next to a volcano’: Mass. experts raise fresh alarms about spread of bird flu
Several of the state’s leading infectious-disease experts painted a sobering picture of the nation’s readiness to combat a strain of avian influenza, known as H5N1 , that has infected dozens of people nationwide and is showing no signs of abating. A human pandemic is no longer remote, said the experts, members of a Harvard Medical School-led team called the Massachusetts Consortium on Pathogen Readiness , and inadequate testing and difficulties in accessing federal data could hinder efforts to contain it. Gaps in surveillance and cuts by the Trump administration to...