Category: Avian Influenza
Single mutation in H5N1 influenza surface protein could enable easier human infection
NIH NIH-funded study finds risk of human infection continues to remain low. A single modification in the protein found on the surface of the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 influenza virus currently circulating in U.S. dairy cows could allow for easier transmission among humans, according to new research funded by the National Institutes of […]
Dec 10, 2024
Canadian Probe Into Teen’s Critical H5N1 Case: Implications for Infection Preventionists
Infection Control Today A critical case of H5N1 avian influenza in a British Columbia teenager has renewed focus on the complexities of zoonotic diseases. Despite exhaustive investigations, health officials have been unable to pinpoint how the teenager contracted the virus, underscoring the difficulty of tracing the origins of such infections. H5N1—commonly called bird flu—poses a significant […]
Dec 4, 2024
New Zealand suspends poultry exports after first case of H7 bird flu
Reuters New Zealand said on Monday that it had suspended all poultry exports after detecting a highly pathogenic variant of avian influenza at a poultry farm on the South Island. Tests confirmed the H7N6 subtype of bird flu at a rural chicken farm in the Otago region, Biosecurity New Zealand said in a statement. It […]
Dec 4, 2024
Why Anthony Fauci Is Concerned about Bird Flu and Public Division
Scientific American “America’s Doctor” says that our common enemy is the danger posed by viruses, not each other. his episode is part of “Health Equity Heroes,” an editorially independent special project that was produced with financial support from Takeda Pharmaceuticals. Rachel Feltman: The public health world is filled with heroes, but it doesn’t exactly produce a ton […]
Dec 4, 2024
Bird Flu, Explained
NYT By now, you’ve probably seen some alarming headlines about bird flu, and you may be wondering how worried you should be. I understand the uncertainty. On the one hand, we have all spent decades hearing alarming stories about strange viruses — like MERS, Ebola, dengue and Zika — most of which don’t end up […]
Dec 4, 2024
Oregon confirms first human case of bird flu out of Clackamas County
The World The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed that a person contracted bird flu in a case linked to an outbreak that sickened thousands of birds in a Clackamas County commercial poultry operation. Public health officials declined to provide details about the person, name the operation or other details. They also said there […]
Dec 3, 2024
H5N1 Bird Flu Concerns Grow. Are COVID-19 Mistakes Being Repeated?
Forbes There’s a saying that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Will that be the case with the H5N1 avian influenza virus that’s been spreading among birds for years, jumped to dairy cattle earlier this year and appeared in a pig a month ago? Is hindsight not 2020? Are […]
Dec 3, 2024
Influenza A(H5N1) shedding in air corresponds to transmissibility in mammals
Nature An increase in spillover events of highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N1) viruses to mammals suggests selection of viruses that transmit well in mammals. Here we use air-sampling devices to continuously sample infectious influenza viruses expelled by experimentally infected ferrets. The resulting quantitative virus shedding kinetics data resembled ferret-to-ferret transmission studies and indicated that the […]
Dec 3, 2024
The truth about raw milk and why experts are ‘absolutely horrified’ by the trend
Guardian US officials recently detected bird flu in raw milk. Public health officials in California detected bird flu in a sample of raw milk this month. The virus first spread to dairy cattle in the US in March. The discovery comes amid an increasingly heated public debate about the merits and drawbacks of raw milk. Robert F Kennedy Jr, […]
Nov 27, 2024
Experts say bird flu is more widespread than we think: ‘We are in a soup of virus’
Independent Scientists are warning about the continued transmission of dangerous H5N1 bird flu, saying that the virus is more widespread than believed. “We are in a soup of virus. I mean, there’s virus everywhere around us at this point,” Dr. Marcela Uhart, a wildlife veterinarian with the University of Cal-Davis’ One Health Institute, told a symposium earlier this […]
Nov 27, 2024