When it comes to the potential of H5N1 avian flu, otherwise known as bird flu, picking up mutations that may lead to human-to-human spread, that "train has already left the station," warns one infectious disease expert.

Bird flu is infecting more people than we think. We need to stop it now before a new pandemic begins Right after President Donald Trump took office, amid the flurry of executive orders and agency upheavals,

Live poultry markets in New York City raced to sell off all their chickens and other fowl Friday after seven cases of avian flu were detected and state officials ordered markets in the metropolitan area to close for a week.

The order also temporarily shuts down all bird markets in Westchester, Nassau and Suffolk counties after 7 cases were detected in NYC poultry.

The order requires market owners to sell or otherwise remove all live birds and conduct a thorough cleaning and disinfection of their facilities—even if bird flu wasn't detected