If H5N1 does manage to swap just the right piece of DNA from a type A flu virus, we could well see a runaway epidemic that would burn through some of the world’s largest cities at a staggering rate, thanks both to the extreme densities of our cities and the global connectivity of jet travel. Millions could die in a matter of months.
But for that to happen, people would have to willfully ignore basic things we've learned from centuries of dealing with infectious disease, like wearing masks and maintaining physical distance from one another. Sob.
