"Bird flu, or avian influenza, is primarily spread by wild aquatic birds, especially waterfowl like ducks, geese, and swans. These birds often carry the virus without showing symptoms and can spread it through their saliva, nasal secretions, and feces. Shorebirds, such as plovers and sandpipers, and other waterbirds like gulls and terns, are also known carriers. Domestic poultry, including chickens, turkeys, and ducks, can become infected through contact with wild birds or contaminated environments."

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What Is Happening in Missouri?

Human to Human spread??? https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2024/09/27/missouri-health-workers-bird-flu-hospitalized/75417187007/

I certainly hope this isn't the beginning of what will probably someday eventually happen.
Missouri seems to be slow in responding to a lot of open-ended questions concerning the first recorded human case of bird flu without any exposure to previously known dangers. The state scores 3rd from the bottom of a new state-by-state health scorecard. So, I can see early signs of a budding new pandemic escaping state Missouri health officials.

Meanwhile, nearly everyone lives with wild geese nearby. Although it is disgusting to have them poop in your yard, I never before - not even remotely - considered them as associated to potentially bigger problems until now. But how did the person in Missouri actually get infected? Exposure to an animal host without knowing it??? Or from silently circulating human to human transmission. Are those associated to this case a mere coincidence or something more? Hopefully, mere coincidence.

Unable to cope with the COVID pandemic, the USA is not prepared to take on another one.