Author: Claudinne Miller
Where Did Bird Flu Go?
American Scientific Bird flu was nearly everywhere in the U.S.—in chickens, cows, pet cats and even humans. Cases have gone down, but experts warn that it hasn’t disappeared. For months, bird flu was seemingly everywhere in the U.S.: news headlines reported the highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza virus was rapidly sweeping through hundreds of herds of dairy cattle […]
Jul 30, 2025
The Invisible Toll of Bird Flu on Wildlife
Scientific American Bird flu fears have focused on the poultry and dairy industries and human health. But wild animals are threatened, too—at scales no one fully understands. 25,669 Northern Gannets in Canada.134 harbor and gray seals along the coast of Maine.21 California Condors in the western U.S. These are just a tiny fraction of the […]
Jul 30, 2025
This is How We Fight Bird Flu If H5N1 Becomes the Next Human Pandemic
Scientific American This San Antonio, Tex., lab takes biosecurity seriously. Suit up with its scientists and go behind the scenes of the science of vaccine creation. This is the final episode of our three-part series on bird flu. Episode 1 Episode 2 Episode 3 On Wednesday, we met scientists who are getting their hands dirty with […]
Jul 30, 2025
How Bird Flu Became a Human Pandemic Threat
Scientific American The first hints that a new strain of avian illness is emerging could be found on this beach on Delaware Bay, where migrating birds flock. Here’s what virus detectives who return there every year know right now. H5N1 bird flu has been making a lot of headlines since last year, and for good […]
Jul 30, 2025
Gene-Swaps Could Let Influenza Jump Species
Scientific American Influenza viruses like bird flu can mix and match their genomes, and this has played a role in at least three of the last four flu pandemics. Influenza viruses are shifty entities. They accumulate small genetic changes on a regular basis, necessitating yearly updates to the flu vaccines because the prior year’s strain may not […]
Jul 30, 2025
What Would It Take for Bird Flu to Spread among Humans?
Scientific American H5N1 avian influenza has long been a concerning virus. Since its discovery in 1996 in waterfowl, bird flu has occasionally caused isolated human cases that have quite often been fatal. But last year H5N1 did something strange: it started infecting cattle. The absolute oddity of this leap may have been somewhat lost in the flood of […]
Jul 30, 2025
This Boise lab used to ship bird flu samples to CO. Now it gets results in hours
Idaho Statesman Since bird flu was first detected in Idaho cattle over a year ago, officials at the State Department of Agriculture have had to ship milk samples from dairies around the Gem State to laboratories in Utah, Colorado and Washington state for testing. The shipments delayed test results and response times to the highly […]
Jul 30, 2025
Avian Flu Wiped Out Poultry. Now the Screwworm Is Coming for Beef.
NYT The parasitic fly that attacks warm-blooded animals was eliminated from the United States in the 1960s, but it’s creeping toward the Texas-Mexico border. First came bird flu, which led to the culling of large swaths of the nation’s poultry flocks and the soaring egg prices that helped undermine President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s re-election. […]
Jul 30, 2025
Cambodia reports 14th human H5N1 bird flu infection in 2025
BNO News Cambodia has confirmed a new human case of H5N1 avian influenza in a 26-year-old man who is currently receiving intensive medical treatment, according to health officials. It is the country’s 14th confirmed human case of H5N1 this year. The man, from Kravan village in Siem Reap Province, tested positive for the virus on […]
Jul 30, 2025
Top White House pandemic preparedness official resigns, officials say, in sign of broader disarray
STAT When reports circulated in February that the White House had selected biosecurity expert Gerald Parker as the head of its Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy, there was palpable relief among infectious disease experts. As former commander of the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, his reported appointment seemed to speak to both the […]
Jul 30, 2025