Author: Claudinne Miller
In Ontario, worries of an even deadlier pandemic start with chickens
(CBC) The talk among poultry farmers isn’t ‘if’ H5N1 arrives in Ontario this spring, but ‘when’ The Ontario government and the province’s poultry industry are putting renewed focus on biosecurity at their first meeting in the three years since the COVID-19 pandemic began, with the hope farmers’ actions today might stop an even deadlier pandemic before it begins. […]
Feb 9, 2023
Bird Flu Got to the Minks. Are Humans Next?
(Bloomberg – Opinion) Zombie Minks Seriously, what is it about minks? These animals are always causing trouble. Last October, a mink farm in northwestern Spain was infected with a deadly bird flu, H5N1. More than 50,000 minks were euthanized as a result. Then there was Denmark’s Great Mink Disaster of 2020, when more than 15 million minks were culled to prevent the spread of […]
Feb 9, 2023
Bird Flu Has Begun to Spread in Mammals—Here’s What’s Important to Know
(JAMA) As bird flu continues to circle the globe, a recent report suggests that the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) A(H5N1) virus spread between farmed mink in Spain last October. The virus also may have been transmitted between seals in coastal New England last summer. The events mark the first large H5N1 outbreaks potentially driven by mammal-to-mammal transmission. The […]
Feb 9, 2023
Avian H5N1 (Bird) Flu: Why Experts Are Worried—And What You Should Know
(Forbes) The bird flu outbreak is the deadliest one in almost 10 years—which has helped cause egg prices to steeply rise—and while infection in humans is rare, some experts are gravely concerned it could eventually make the leap and spread among humans. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, bird flu is caused by […]
Feb 8, 2023
Highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N1) virus infection in farmed minks, Spain, October 2022
(Eurosurveillance) This report describes an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) A(H5N1) detected in intensively farmed minks in Europe, which occurred in the Galicia region in northwest Spain in October 2022. We present an in-depth description of the epidemiological, clinical and genetic investigations of this outbreak affecting a single farm and discuss public health […]
Feb 8, 2023
Will mink-to-mink H5N1 flu on a farm in Spain spread ferret-to-ferret in a lab?
(ISDA) Last week, Aguero et al. reported in the journal Eurosurveillance that in October 2022, H5N1 avian influenza (clade 2.3.4.4b) caused mink-to-mink infections and some deaths (peak of 4.3%) on a farm with more than 51,000 mink in Galicia in northwest Spain. Although H5N1 “avian flu” has infected limited numbers of mammalian species, this is the first reported outbreak […]
Feb 8, 2023
Phenotypic effects of mutations observed in the neuraminidase of human origin H5N1 influenza A viruses
(PLoS Pathogens) Global spread and regional endemicity of H5Nx Goose/Guangdong avian influenza viruses (AIV) pose a continuous threat for poultry production and zoonotic, potentially pre-pandemic, transmission to humans. Little is known about the role of mutations in the viral neuraminidase (NA) that accompanied bird-to-human transmission to support AIV infection of mammals. Here, after detailed analysis […]
Feb 8, 2023
Can humans and pets catch bird flu? What to know about the outbreak.
(Washington Post) An outbreak of a highly pathogenic avian influenza strain is decimating wild and farmed bird populations globally, fueling a debate about the most effective ways to end it and the potential risk to humans. Some experts are concerned about the possibility that the H5N1 virus could one day evolve to more easily spread […]
Feb 8, 2023
Tracking the bird flu, experts see a familiar threat — and a virus whose course is hard to predict
(STAT) Veteran influenza epidemiologist Keiji Fukuda remembers vividly when he first became fearful that a virulent bird flu virus, H5N1, might be on the verge of triggering a devastating pandemic. The virus, seemingly out of nowhere, did something bird flu viruses were thought not to be able to do. It infected 18 people, killing six […]
Feb 8, 2023