Inside STAT: What happened to a bird flu virus that experts feared?

HAS H5N1 FLOWN THE COOP? (HYACINTH EMPINADO / STAT)

Just over 12 years ago, a bird flu virus called H5N1 was ravaging poultry populations and charting a destructive course across Asia, North Africa, and the Middle East. And while the human death toll remained in the hundreds, officials warned that the virus could ignite a human pandemic. They drafted emergency plans and stockpiled antiviral drugs as scientists worked on experimental vaccines. And then, the number of human cases subsided. There hasn’t been one since February 2017. The bad news: That could change at any time. “We don't know how the story's going to end," warned Nancy Cox, who spent two decades running flu operations at the CDC. STAT’s Helen Branswell has the story here.