Really tempting the gods here.

The current situation for H5N1 is different than it has been in the past.

* https://www.science.org/content/article/incredibly-concernin..., "H5N1 appears to have spread through a densely packed mammalian population and gained at least one mutation that favors mammal-to-mammal spread"

* https://www.npr.org/2022/12/02/1140076426/what-we-know-about... "Unlike the 2014-15 outbreak, this one is being driven by wild birds, not by farm-to-farm transmission"

That said the risk is still low and the best thing to do is read experts: https://www.cdc.gov/flu/avianflu/spotlights/2022-2023/avian-... "The current public health threat to people from H5N1 virus is low. The current H5N1 outbreak in poultry and birds continues to be mostly an animal health issue. However, people should avoid direct and close contact with sick or dead wild birds, poultry, and wild animals. People should not consume uncooked or undercooked poultry or poultry products, including raw eggs."

This probably won't develop into a global pandemic - but the odds of global pandemics is constantly increasing as we continue expanding factory farming and shrinking natural reserves.

That's sort of the key tune of climate change: everything awful gets more frequent, but it's still probabilistic.

Don't worry, surely there are some virologists in some lab mapping right now exactly what mutations would make it very transmissible between mammals. So that we are ready and prepared, of course.

Up until a few months ago, it wasn't transmissible between mammals at all: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influenza_A_virus_subtype_H5N1... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mammals_that_can_get_H...