Bird flu poses risk of pandemic worse than COVID, France's Institut Pasteur says

PARIS (Reuters) -The bird flu virus that has been spreading among wild birds, poultry and mammals could lead to a pandemic worse than COVID-19 if the virus mutates to transmit between ​humans, the head of France's Institut Pasteur respiratory infections centre said. The highly pathogenic avian influenza, commonly called bird ‌flu, has led to the culling of hundreds of millions of birds in the past few years, disrupting food supplies and driving up prices, though human infections ‌remain rare.