Author: Claudinne Miller
Don’t just blame rat fleas. Lice may have helped spread ‘black death’ plague
NPR The plague — which in the mid-14th century was also known as the Black Death — devastated swaths of Europe, killing millions in under a decade. One of the puzzles surrounding this ancient pandemic was how it spread so quickly. The common wisdom is that rat fleas were the big spreaders. But now a […]
Jun 4, 2024
Analyzing The Emergence Of Covid Variant KP.2 And Its Potential Impact
Forbes It is clear that SARS-CoV-2, the agent of the Covid-19 epidemic, is here to stay. Like influenza, an easily transmissible respiratory virus, SARS-CoV-2 mutates to evade the immune system of those who have been previously vaccinated, infected, or both. The question remains: how dangerous is each new version of SARS-CoV-2? Again, like the Flu, […]
Jun 4, 2024
New cases of Avian Influenza infect South Dakota livestock
ABC News Avian Influenza, or the Bird Flu, has been affecting livestock across the nation, and in the last 30 days, there have been five new recorded cases of H5N1, in South Dakota livestock. The infectious disease has changed in recent years to not only affect poultry but also wild mammals and dairy herds. South […]
Jun 4, 2024
Why Bird Flu Is Infecting People’s Eyes
Scientific American Three U.S. dairy workers have been infected with H5N1 after contact with sick cows, and all of them developed eye symptoms. Bird flu has been behaving very strangely lately. A strain of the highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (H5N1) has been spreading in dairy cows in at least nine U.S. states. Infected cows have very high […]
Jun 4, 2024
Two chickens test positive for bird flu at San Francisco live bird market
CBS News Health officials said Monday that the H5N1 avian flu was detected last month in two asymptomatic chickens at a live bird market in San Francisco, but there is no sign that the public has been exposed. The bird flu virus was found as part of routine tests at live bird markets around the […]
Jun 4, 2024
Fighting bird flu: The vaccine problem with chickens and eggs
Atlanta Journal Constitution Even a peep of news about a new flu pandemic is enough to set scientists clucking about eggs. They worried about them in 2005, and in 2009, and they’re worrying now. That’s because millions of fertilized hen eggs are still the main ingredient in making vaccines that, hopefully, will protect people against […]
Jun 4, 2024
The 3rd human case of bird flu in the US has 2 new and troubling symptoms
Business Insider The H5N1 bird-flu virus has once again infected a human. But this time, the unlucky patient had a cough and a sore throat, which is a new milestone for the virus’s spread in the US. The H5N1 virus has become a pandemic among animals, raging through worldwide bird populations and now through US cattle herds. This […]
Jun 4, 2024
Bird flu detected in San Francisco wastewater and chickens
Los Angeles Times As federal and state health officials expand their avian flu surveillance, the San Francisco Department of Public Health has reported that avian flu has been detected in wastewater samples collected in May. The samples were collected after two chickens at a live bird market in the city tested positive for the disease […]
Jun 4, 2024
‘Uncertainty’ Isn’t a Bad Word: U.S. Agencies Must Tighten Up H5N1 Communications
MedPageToday More effective and efficient public messaging is the need of the hour. Less than a month ago, we published a pieceopens in a new tab or window suggesting that H5N1 bird flu could pose an even thornier health communications challenge than COVID-19. We offered a three-point prescription for how the U.S. government agencies most responsible for […]
Jun 4, 2024
Lady Gaga performed on stage with Covid. Did we learn nothing from the pandemic?
The Guardian Should you go into work when you’re sick with a contagious virus? Lady Gaga has spoken and the answer, it seems, is “sure, why not?” During a recent Q&A for an HBO concert special based on her 2022 Chromatica Ball tour, the pop star was asked to reveal something she had never shared […]
May 29, 2024