Author: Claudinne Miller
Chronic wasting disease feared in deaths of 2 hunters who ate deer meat
USA Today The recent report of two hunters who developed neurological diseases after eating infected deer meat has scientists concerned that ‘zombie deer disease’ could pass to humans as mad cow disease did. Two hunters who ate meat from deer known to have chronic wasting disease − or “zombie deer disease” − developed similar neurological conditions and died, raising […]
Apr 24, 2024
Deforestation pushes animals in Uganda forest to eat virus-laden bat poo
BBC Animals in a Ugandan forest have been eating bat poo laden with viruses after tobacco farming wiped out their usual food source, a study has found. A virus linked to Covid-19 was among the 27 identified in the poo eaten by chimpanzees, antelopes and monkeys. Researchers say this finding sheds light on how new […]
Apr 24, 2024
Bird Flu Outbreak in Cattle May Have Begun Months Earlier Than Thought
New York Times A single spillover, from a bird to a cow, led to the infections, a review of genetic data has found. The bird flu outbreak in American dairy cattle may have begun in January, or even as early as December, a new analysis of genetic data suggests. The Department of Agriculture announced in late […]
Apr 24, 2024
First measles case confirmed in West Virginia since 2009
WV News A patient of WVU Medicine in Monongalia County has tested positive for measles. WVU Medicine announced Monday that a patient tested positive after visiting an outpatient clinic last week and is recovering at their home. The U.S. has seen an uptick in measles cases in 2024, but this is the first case confirmed in West […]
Apr 24, 2024
Massive amounts of H5N1 vaccine would be needed if there’s a bird flu pandemic. Can we make enough?
STAT Helen Branswell The unsettling reality of H5N1 bird flu circulating in dairy cow herds in multiple parts of the United States is raising anxiety levels about whether this dangerous virus, which has haunted the sleep of people who worry about influenza pandemics for more than 20 years, could be on a path to acquiring the ability […]
Apr 24, 2024
Is There a Vaccine for H5N1 Influenza?
MedPageToday On the heels of a multi-state outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza A (H5N1) in dairy cows, experts told MedPage Today that a trio of H5N1 vaccines for humans has already been developed and approved in the U.S. While there hasn’t been an outbreak among people to put them to the test, human-to-human transmission would “drive the […]
Apr 24, 2024
CureVac Announces Start of Combined Phase 1/2 Study in Avian Influenza (H5N1); Development in Collaboration with GSK
CureVac Continue reading
Apr 24, 2024
USDA releases H5N1 bird flu genetic data eagerly awaited by scientists
STAT Helen Branswell The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which has been under pressure from scientists both at home and abroad to share more data on the H5N1 bird flu outbreaks in dairy cows, uploaded a large number of genetic sequences of the pathogen late Sunday. The excitement that news generated in the scientific community quickly gave way to frustration, […]
Apr 23, 2024
Genetic analysis reveals H5N1 flu virus outbreak in cows likely started earlier than thought
STAT Helen Branswell The H5N1 bird flu outbreak in dairy cows in the United States has likely been going on for months longer than was previously realized, and has probably spread more widely across the country than the confirmed outbreaks would imply, according to an analysis of genetic sequences that were released Sunday by the U.S. Department […]
Apr 23, 2024
Updates on Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI)
FDA Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) is a disease that is highly contagious and often deadly in poultry, caused by highly pathogenic avian influenza A (H5) and A (H7) viruses; it is also known as bird or avian flu. HPAI viruses can be transmitted by wild birds to domestic poultry and other bird and animal […]
Apr 23, 2024