Similar in pervasiveness to the Zika virus that has posed a new threat to us and is steadily increasing in prevalence, avian influenza is becoming a more notable danger. Much of the transmission can be assumed to be caused by the huge amount of chicken consumption of the world. Since it is in such a huge global demand, there are major issues with how easily one chicken can travel across the world carrying with it all of the bacteria and viruses it has acquired to spread with other birds or for humans to contract. This is a growing concern given that the global demand for chickens has quadrupled since 1970 according to the article. It has already been demonstrated in mega proportions that the bird flu has the capability to kill several hundred thousand people and these pandemics occurred before the demand skyrocketed. Another variable in the equation I found interesting was how easily poultry viruses can spread and mutate in the presence of humans because in much of china, people prefer to buy their chickens live in filthy marketplaces before taking them home to their families. The final and most interesting part of the situation that might explain some of the newly adapted spreading is due to the increased time spent between bird species around the Bering Strait because of the climate change. The increased overlap in migration periods means there is a much greater possibility for viruses to get spread among different birds before returning back home.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/07/opinion/sunday/what-you-get-when-you-mix-chickens-china-and-climate-change.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-right-region&region=opinion-c-col-right-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-right-region&_r=0