Carolyn Barber, M.D., is an internationally published science and medical writer and a 25-year emergency physician. She is the author of Runaway Medicine: What You Don’t Know May Kill You, and the cofounder of the California-based homeless work program Wheels of Change.
At first glance, some of the expert reactions to the recent surge in bird flu virus cases, both in the U.S. and around the world, may appear contradictory. Isn’t a more urgent response required? How much livestock will be sacrificed? Is the risk to humans really so low that only moderate actions are called for?
