Jessica Peralta has been a journalist for over 20 years and an animal lover all her life. Her children are black cat, Riot, and Hawkeye, a Rhodesian Ridgeback/Border Collie puppy.
The “bird flu”, or avian influenza, has been around for a long time; it’s circulated in wild birds since the late 1990s. But like all viruses, it mutates over time—and influenza viruses are known to mutate very quickly. What’s more, some emerging strains are deadlier than others.