A rapidly spreading strain of H5N1 avian influenza, more commonly referred to as bird flu, has ravaged bird populations worldwide. Since 2022, over 147 million birds in the U.S. alone have been affected, causing economic strain, increasing egg prices, and growing public health concerns. The virus has also begun spreading to other mammals, including dairy cows, cats, and even humans. The question of the day stands tall: what if bird flu mutated to turn airborne and effectively spread among people? Scientists warned that such mutation would be all it took for the next great global pandemic. Understanding Bird Flu: What makes it dangerous?

Bird flu is one of the forms of influenza which mainly infects birds but occasionally jumps to humans and other mammals. The high fatality rate among infected humans makes H5N1 more alarming. Similar to human flu viruses such as H1N1 and H3N2, H5N1 also has distinct protein structures that will not let it spread from one person to another, at least for now.

There are two major known subtypes of avian flu that have infected humans: influenza A(H5N1) and influenza A(H7N9). WHO reports that H5N1 mortality in the Western Pacific Region has reached up to 54% among reported cases. Despite the fact that human infections are rare, health experts are always worried about mutation.

Can Bird Flu Become Airborne?

Currently, H5N1 is not yet able to be transmitted from person to person by the air, although viruses are found to evolve. If H5N1's genetic makeup is changed in such a manner that it can be airborne, scientists fear that it may lead to a deadly pandemic. Unlike seasonal influenza, which spreads by respiratory droplets, bird flu is mainly transmitted by direct contact or any exposure to the infected animal or their body fluids. However, airborne transmission would mean the virus could spread much more easily, making containment significantly more difficult.

Researchers are keeping a close eye on cases in mammals, as transmission among non-bird species may be a sign that the virus is adapting. Pandemics such as the 1918 Spanish flu have, in the past, originated from animal influenza viruses that mutated to become highly transmissible in humans. If H5N1 takes this path, the world may be facing a severe public health crisis.

How Do Humans Get Infected with Bird Flu?

Although it is rare, bird flu can be transmitted to humans. Infected birds spread the virus through their saliva, mucus, and excrement. Other infected animals, like dairy cows, can also harbor the virus in their respiratory secretions, milk, or blood. In these cases, the virus is transferred to humans by direct contact with infected animals or surfaces. These viruses may enter the body through the eyes, nose, or mouth and can be inhaled via airborne particles, such as dust.

Although human infections have been few, the threat remains that each new case increases the possibility of mutation. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. emphasizes that the risk to the general population remains low, but cautions close contact workers who work closely with animals, like farmworkers and veterinarians.

Symptoms and Duration of Bird Flu Infection in Humans

The incubation period for H5N1 in humans varies but generally ranges between 2 to 5 days, with some cases taking up to 17 days to manifest symptoms. Common symptoms include:

• Fever
• Fatigue
• Cough
• Muscle aches
• Sore throat
• Nausea and vomiting
• Diarrhea
• Stuffy or runny nose
• Shortness of breath (dyspnea)
• Pink eye (conjunctivitis)

Most recent U.S. cases have been mildly symptomatic but, worldwide, H5N1 infections have caused severe respiratory illness and sometimes death. Mortality has been high in all previous outbreaks; thus, officials are on their toes in regard to new infections.

Who's at Greatest Risk?

The people at high risk of acquiring bird flu are those who are in close contact with infected animals, such as poultry farm workers, veterinarians, and dairy farmers. Also, people whose immune systems are weakened, including young children and older adults, are more susceptible to severe illness. Although this is rare, there have been documented cases of limited human-to-human transmission, especially among family members caring for infected individuals.

Are Eggs Safe To Eat?

Well, health experts have assured me that properly cooked poultry and eggs do not harbor the virus of avian bird flu. Also, high heat will kill such a virus for human consumption; however, sometimes birds get flu even after ingesting raw commercial pet food leading to the transfer of the diseases in under-cooked animal-based food products.

Raw milk from infected cows remains a potential risk, though more research is needed to determine the extent of its transmissibility. The CDC advises avoiding raw dairy products and ensuring that all poultry and eggs are thoroughly cooked before consumption.

Preventive Measures: How to Stay Safe

Although the current level of risk in humans is quite low, extra precautions are best taken, starting with people regularly in contact with birds or live stocks. Such precautions have included the following recommendation by the CDC:

• Avoid all direct contact with sick or dead birds and animals.
• Use adequate protective equipment- gloves, mask, goggles-as needed to collect potentially infected animals.
• Wash hands well afterwards with soap, water, antiseptic cleaners, and all poultry and its products.
• Poultry and eggs should be cooked to an internal temperature of 165°F/74°C.
• Pasteurized dairy products are the safest options.

Monitor for symptoms if you have been exposed to infected animals. Seek medical attention if flu-like symptoms occur.

The Uncertain Future of H5N1

Although the threat of an airborne mutation is speculative at this point, scientists warn against complacency. Surveillance programs monitor changes in the virus, and vaccine development is ongoing to prepare for a potential outbreak.

Like all other emerging infectious diseases, preparation is essential. Public health officers encourage further studies and collaboration that would ensure an early detection and control of H5N1 before it even threatens the entire world.

For now, the risk of a bird flu pandemic is low, but the experience with COVID-19 teaches that preparedness should be proactive. Understanding the risks, staying informed, and following recommended safety protocols can help to minimize potential dangers in the years ahead.

Every second counts in an emergency, and World First Aid Day serves as a timely reminder of the critical role first aid plays in saving lives. Observed annually on the second Saturday of September, this day aims to raise awareness about first aid, encourage training, and empower individuals to respond effectively during crises. In 2025, the day will be observed on September 13th, uniting communities worldwide in their commitment to safety and preparedness.

World First Aid Day 2025 Theme

This year’s theme is “First Aid and Climate Change,” highlighting the need for emergency preparedness in the face of increasingly frequent climate-related disasters. Rising global temperatures, floods, wildfires, and storms are creating new challenges for communities, making first aid knowledge more crucial than ever. The theme underscores that basic first aid is not just for personal emergencies but is essential in building community resilience in a changing world.

Importance of First Aid

First aid can make the difference between life and death in the crucial minutes before professional medical help arrives. Whether it’s cardiac arrest, choking, severe bleeding, or burns, timely action can significantly improve survival chances and recovery outcomes. Equipping individuals with basic first aid skills fosters a culture of preparedness, at home, in workplaces, and in public spaces.

In addition to preventing complications and reducing injury severity, first aid training empowers people to act confidently in emergencies. From performing CPR to controlling bleeding and handling choking incidents, these life-saving skills can transform bystanders into first responders.

Origin and Historical Relevance

The roots of first aid go back to the 19th century when Henry Dunant, founder of the Red Cross, witnessed the suffering of injured soldiers during the Battle of Solferino. This inspired a humanitarian movement to care for the wounded without discrimination. The term “first aid” was later coined by German surgeon Friedrich von Esmarch in the late 1800s.

World First Aid Day was first observed in 2000 by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) to promote global first aid education. Today, millions of people participate in awareness events, training workshops, and community demonstrations, spreading the message that first aid is a universal skill everyone should learn.

How to Participate

Individuals can get involved by attending first aid training courses, sharing educational resources on social media, organizing community workshops, or volunteering with local Red Cross and Red Crescent societies. Even downloading a first aid mobile app can be a step toward being prepared.

A Step Toward Safer Communities

World First Aid Day 2025 is more than a date on the calendar, it’s a call to action. By learning first aid, we can build safer, more resilient communities ready to face emergencies, including those amplified by climate change. This September 13th, take the time to learn, teach, and spread awareness. You might just save a life.

While most of the world is experiencing fewer deaths from chronic disease, India is heading in the opposite direction. The Lancet's latest analysis reveals non-communicable disease such as diabetes, cancer, and heart disease are shortening more lives—particularly among women. The statistics don't simply provide data, they tell a tale of lifestyle changes, unequal healthcare access, and who bears the largest burden.

A recent paper in The Lancet has shed new light on a disconcerting Indian trend: deaths due to non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are increasing, even as the remainder of the globe experiences improvement. These results indicate a pressing public health threat, with women shouldering the highest burden.

During 2010-2019, the majority of the globe experienced a decline in deaths due to long-term conditions like heart disease, diabetes, and some cancers. Indeed, about 80 percent of nations witnessed a fall, enhancing survival for millions. But India defied this. The research monitored 185 nations and determined that deaths from NCDs went down globally, but India saw a dramatic rise.

For men, the probability of dying from an NCD between birth and age 80 rose from 56 percent in 2001 to nearly 58 percent in 2019. For women, the picture was starker. After a modest decline between 2001 and 2010, mortality rates surged in the following decade. By 2019, the likelihood of an Indian woman dying from an NCD before turning 80 was 48.7 percent, compared to 46.7 percent in 2001.

Why Women Are at Higher Risk?

Whereas men gained advantages in the case of some disease categories like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), heart disease, and cirrhosis of the liver, women did not experience gains in most of these categories. Apart from marginal increases in COPD, cirrhosis, and remaining NCD categories, women's mortality risks deteriorated across the board. This indicates increasing gender inequality in access to healthcare, screening, and treatment.

What Are Non-Communicable Diseases?

NCDs, also referred to as chronic diseases, are chronic conditions that unfold gradually. They consist of cardiovascular diseases (heart disease and strokes), cancers, chronic lung diseases such as COPD and asthma, diabetes, and neuropsychiatric diseases. NCDs, as reported by the World Health Organization (WHO), are responsible for 71 percent of total deaths globally. Remarkably, almost three-quarters of premature NCD deaths—deaths that occur before the age of 70—occur in low- and middle-income nations such as India.

The Alarming Case of Lung Cancer in India

A specific trend in lung cancer was emphasized by the Lancet report. Worldwide, lung cancer death decreased among men in 92 percent of nations. But India, Armenia, Iran, Egypt, and Papua New Guinea followed the opposite trend. This highlights India's peculiar susceptibility to lifestyle influences like excess tobacco use, air pollution, and late diagnosis.

Globally, lower deaths due to cardiovascular diseases and certain cancers led to most of the reduction in NCD mortality. However, this achievement was countered by increasing deaths from dementia, liver and pancreatic cancers, and alcohol use disorders. According to the study, although clinical advances such as improved diabetes and hypertension medication, cancer screening, and better emergency treatment of heart attack saved many countries, not all populations were equally exposed.

Why India Is Trailing Behind from the World?

Various structural issues seem to account for India's deteriorating performance. The report cited that the health data quality from India is "very low," which made it more difficult to monitor, prevent, and treat NCDs properly. Meanwhile, disparities in access to medicines, screenings, and preventive care continue to be widespread.

This was also fueled by the 2008 global recession. Its long shadow cut short health budgets and global health aid. Growing poverty, employment insecurity, and inadequate access to healthy foods also intensified inequalities in health. The poor, as well as vulnerable populations—usually women, the old, and poorer communities—were disproportionately hit.

Risk Factors Fueling NCDs

NCDs are highly interrelated with environmental and lifestyle determinants. They are largely driven by tobacco smoking, alcohol consumption, unhealthy diet, and physical inactivity. In India, these are added to by urbanization, air pollution, and unequal access to health care. Social determinants of health, where individuals are born, live, and work, further determine their exposure to the risk factors.

Experts say that it will take systemic transformation to turn around India's NCD burden. Majid Ezzati, lead author of the study and professor at Imperial College London, urged huge investments in healthcare infrastructure, along with tobacco and alcohol control campaigns. These interventions, already proved effective elsewhere in the world, could save millions of lives if successfully adopted in India.

The Lancet report gives a straightforward message: while large parts of the world are set to limit premature deaths from non-communicable diseases, India is in danger of being left behind. Women are especially hit with overly high risks that reflect underlying social and health inequalities.

It will take a two-pronged response—better short-term access to NCD treatments and addressing upstream determinants such as tobacco smoking, unhealthy diets, and air pollution. It also calls for improved monitoring and improved healthcare systems to ensure all groups of people enjoy the benefits.

Three scientists whose groundbreaking work redefined the future of cystic fibrosis (CF) care have been awarded one of the world’s most prestigious honors in medicine: the Lasker-DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award. Often referred to as the “American Nobel,” the award recognizes contributions that radically improve human health. This year, it went to Dr. Michael Welsh of the University of Iowa, Paul Negulescu of Vertex Pharmaceuticals, and Jesús (Tito) González, now of Integro Theranostics.

Together, their decades of research led to the creation of Trikafta, a therapy that has extended the lifespan of cystic fibrosis patients by decades and fundamentally reshaped what it means to live with the disease.

When cystic fibrosis was first described in the 1930s, it was considered a fatal childhood condition. Patients rarely survived past elementary school. Even as late as the 2010s, before Trikafta’s approval in 2019, half of patients with CF died before the age of 40.

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Today, the outlook is dramatically different. Children born with CF between 2020 and 2024 who have access to Trikafta now face a median survival age of 65 years — nearly indistinguishable from the general population.

As Dr. Eric Sorscher of Emory University explained in The New England Journal of Medicine, “Available projections suggest that health and longevity may increase further as modulators begin to be administered at younger ages.”

This shift marks one of the most profound turnarounds in modern medicine.

The Role of the CFTR Gene

Cystic fibrosis is caused by mutations in a single gene: CFTR (cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator). The gene is critical for regulating the movement of ions across cell membranes, which in turn ensures proper water balance in tissues.

In healthy cells, CFTR forms channels that allow ions to flow freely. But in CF, the mutated gene produces faulty channels. The result is thick, sticky mucus that clogs the lungs and digestive system, fuels recurrent infections, and damages organs over time.

Dr. Michael Welsh, a pulmonologist and molecular biologist, helped illuminate the exact ways the most common CF mutation, delta-F508, disrupts cell function. He discovered two problems: the defective protein often gets “trapped” inside cells before reaching the surface, and even when it does reach the surface, it underperforms.

In a pivotal experiment, Welsh showed that simply lowering the temperature of cells allowed the trapped protein to move correctly. “That meant it was not totally broken,” he later recalled — a crucial realization that opened the door to correcting the defect.

Meanwhile, as a postdoctoral researcher in Nobel laureate Roger Tsien’s lab, Jesús (Tito) González developed a real-time system to track ion movement across membranes. Initially designed to study neurons, this tool proved invaluable for testing whether new drugs could restore CFTR function.

Negulescu and the Push to Find a Therapy

At Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Paul Negulescu helped drive the systematic search for compounds that could repair CFTR defects. Guided by Welsh’s molecular insights and González’s imaging system, the team screened thousands of molecules. The result was Trikafta, a triple-drug therapy that addressed the underlying cause of CF for most patients.

'Trikafta' Of Game-Changer in CF Treatment

Approved by the FDA in 2019, Trikafta combines three drugs — elexacaftor, tezacaftor, and ivacaftor — that work synergistically to help defective CFTR proteins fold correctly, reach the cell surface, and function effectively. The impact has been extraordinary. Since its introduction:

• Hospitalizations for lung infections have plummeted.
• The need for lung transplants has declined.
• Patients report stronger lung function, weight gain, and dramatically improved quality of life.
• For many families, the treatment has meant that milestones once unimaginable — graduating college, starting families, living into retirement — are now within reach.

Recognition at the “American Nobels”

The Lasker Awards, founded in 1945, celebrate biomedical achievements that shape the future of health. They are considered one of the highest honors in science, often predicting future Nobel Prizes.

The recognition of Welsh, González, and Negulescu underscores the profound impact of their work. The $250,000 prize, while symbolic compared to the billions Trikafta has generated, highlights the ethical and humanitarian dimension of their achievement: turning a once uniformly fatal disease into a chronic, manageable condition.

What CF Treatment Means for Medicine?

The CF breakthrough is not just about one disease. It represents a paradigm shift in genetic medicine. By targeting the root molecular defect rather than simply managing symptoms, Trikafta has become a model for other genetic conditions, from sickle cell disease to rare metabolic disorders.

It also illustrates the power of partnerships between academic researchers, biotech innovators, and patient foundations. The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation’s early investments in research were critical to advancing the work that ultimately led to Trikafta’s approval.

While Trikafta has transformed care in wealthy countries, challenges remain. The therapy is expensive — with an annual price tag of over $300,000 in the U.S. — putting it out of reach for many patients globally.

Furthermore, a subset of CF patients with rare genetic mutations still do not benefit from the drug, leaving an urgent need for alternative therapies. And as with all long-term treatments, researchers must continue monitoring for side effects and resistance.

Roughly 100,000 people worldwide live with cystic fibrosis. For decades, their lives were defined by daily medical regimens, frequent hospitalizations, and shortened lifespans. Today, thanks to the pioneering work of Welsh, González, and Negulescu, those same patients are looking toward futures filled with possibility.