Covid Changed Everything, Including How We Cover the Bird Flu

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Many of the scientists Apoorva Mandavilli spoke to seemed convinced of the same thing: The bird flu virus, called H5N1, could cause the world’s next pandemic.

That was in 2002. And though H5N1, which first surfaced in 1996, did not immediately become as widespread as once feared, it never went away. Since 2003, H5N1 has infected nearly 900 people around the world, about half of whom died of their illness.

In the two decades since she began covering bird flu, Ms. Mandavilli, a science and global health reporter for The New York Times, has reported on a number of infectious diseases, such as Covid-19 and mpox, previously known as monkeypox, as well as scourges like H.I.V., tuberculosis and malaria.

Recently, she’s turned her attention back to H5N1, which is rapidly gaining new hosts, having made the leap from birds to various mammals, including dairy cows. According to public health authorities, three farmworkers in the United States, all of whom worked with dairy cows, became infected this spring with mostly mild symptoms.

In an interview, Ms. Mandavilli shared how the Covid pandemic has changed the way she covers viruses, including H5N1, and what we need to know about the current bird flu outbreak. This interview has been edited and condensed.

How does H5N1 compare with other viruses or infectious diseases you’ve reported on over your career?