fearable bird flu

[ada]

Hi friends
Before some time was suffering from bird flu infection, so I decided to meet a doctor, so meet a shrewdest doctor of that area, but unfortunately he have not got proper information about bird flu infection, can anyone help me.

[couch]

Hi friends
Before some time was suffering from bird flu infection, so I decided to meet a doctor, so meet a shrewdest doctor of that area, but unfortunately he have not got proper information about bird flu infection, can anyone help me.

In Chinese Medicine, it doesn't matter if you have a BIRD flu or COW flu or "REGULAR" flu. It comes down to signs, symptoms, tongue and pulse. It puts the whole body in holistic healing.

Kenton

PS, So - no...I don't know anything about the Bird Flu, but I know a bit about TCM.

[GeneChing]

Another strain. There's a vid if you follow the link.

Report: Third man in China dies from unusual bird flu strain (http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/03/world/asia/china-bird-flu/index.html)
By Jethro Mullen and Jason Hanna, CNN
updated 11:46 AM EDT, Wed April 3, 2013
Watch this video
New deadly strain of bird flu in China
STORY HIGHLIGHTS

NEW: Third man to die lived in Zhejiang in eastern China, but worked in Jiangsu province
Announcement comes days after the first three other cases -- and first two deaths -- were announced
Officials are trying to find the source of the infections

Hong Kong (CNN) -- A third man in China has died from the H7N9 virus, a strain of avian flu not previously detected in humans, the Zhejiang provincial department of health said Wednesday, according to state-run media outlet Xinhua.

The disclosure of the third death comes only days after Chinese authorities announced the first three known cases of humans infected with the H7N9 bird flu virus on Sunday.

The total number of people infected with H7N9 in China has risen to nine, Xinhua reported Wednesday.

The death reported Wednesday was that of a 38-year-old man who passed away on March 27 in his home province of Zhejiang in eastern China, Xinhua reported. He worked in nearby Jiangsu province, where at least four other cases of humans infected with H7N9 were reported Tuesday.

Two other people who died -- men aged 27 and 87 -- lived in nearby Shanghai, according to Xinhua. The World Health Organization confirmed those deaths Monday.

Chinese authorities are trying to find the source of the human infections. They have so far said there are no signs of transmission of the H7N9 virus between any of the victims or people they have come into close contact with, suggesting the virus isn't highly contagious among humans.

They have also dismissed suggestions linking the infections with the discovery of thousands of pig carcasses from the Huangpu River which runs through Shanghai.

The Shanghai Animal Disease Prevention and Control Center on Monday tested 34 samples of pig carcasses pulled from the river and found no bird flu viruses, Xinhua reported.

On Tuesday, the Jiangsu provincial health bureau reported four cases of H7N9 in humans: a 45-year-old woman from Nanjing, a 48-year-old woman from Suqian, an 83-year-old man from Suzhou, and a 32-year-old woman from Wuxi.

The Nanjing woman worked culling poultry, it said.

Malik Peiris, a professor at Hong Kong University's School of Public Health, said Monday that the H7N9 strain of avian flu, already known to exist in wild birds, had probably been transmitted to poultry, and it infected the humans.

"It's really important to understand where this virus is coming from," he said.

Authorities in Shanghai are gathering daily data on cases of pneumonia resulting from unknown causes and will set up a team of experts to assess the "severity and risk" of H7N9, Xinhua reported Tuesday.

Since the transmission of these types of viruses from animals to humans is usually "extremely inefficient," there are often tens of thousands of infected birds for every human case, according to Peiris.

As a result, "it is very likely that there is a quite widespread outbreak happening" among the animals from which it came, he said, underscoring the urgent need to track down the source.

The World Health Organization said Monday it was "in contact with the national authorities and is following the event closely."

Because there are so few cases of H7N9 detected so far, little research has been done, according to Xinhua. There are no known vaccines against this virus, it said.

But Peiris said it was likely that existing anti-flu drugs, such as Tamiflu, are likely to work against the H7N9 strain. He also noted that the WHO has identified the H7 virus family as a potential threat and earmarked possible vaccine candidates.

He said other strains from the H7 family had caused previous outbreaks in poultry in countries including the Netherlands, Britain, Canada, the United States and Mexico. Human infection was documented in all of those cases except the Mexican one.

The outbreak of the H7N7 strain in the Netherlands in 2003 infected 89 people, one of whom died, according to Peiris.

The better known H5N1 avian flu virus has infected more than 600 people since 2003, of which 371 have died, according to the WHO.

In February, China reported two new human cases of H5N1 in the southern province of Guizhou, both of whom were in a critical condition, the WHO said.

A spike in H5N1 deaths, many of them children, has been reported in Cambodia, prompting concern among health authorities.

[Lee Chiang Po]

I read that people that associate themselves with animals tend to suffer some sort of DNA alterations. People that work long periods of time with horses can not take certain vaccines that are made from horse plazma or whatever. They become extremely elergic to it. I suspect that is how some people can catch this bird or swine flu. Their dna alters enough that animal dna specific viruses can cross into humans. Just like the swine flu, this is just a matter of time before it makes the jump into normal humans.

[SoCo KungFu]

I read that people that associate themselves with animals tend to suffer some sort of DNA alterations. People that work long periods of time with horses can not take certain vaccines that are made from horse plazma or whatever. They become extremely elergic to it. I suspect that is how some people can catch this bird or swine flu. Their dna alters enough that animal dna specific viruses can cross into humans. Just like the swine flu, this is just a matter of time before it makes the jump into normal humans.

No, just...no. I'm drunk off Nugget Nectar and Perpetual IPA at the moment, so I'm not going to give a coherent thought out response. But all of this, forget all of it. Permanently, eternally, and never bring it back to light again...

[GeneChing]

Are Chinese officials trying to use bird flu to promote traditional Chinese medicine? (http://qz.com/71320/are-chinese-officials-trying-to-use-bird-flu-to-promote-traditional-chinese-medicine/)
By Lily Kuo — April 5, 2013
http://qzprod.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/shanghai-press-conference-web.jpg?w=880
Debating what to tell the worried residents of Shanghai. AP Photo / Eugene Hoshiko


As cases of avian flu in China mount, Shanghai officials said in a press conference today that the Chinese herb, banlangen, the root of the woad plant, could ward off (link in Chinese) the rare and seemingly deadly strain of H7N9. (Here is a map of the outbreak and latest updates.)

Officials have previously said traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), including banlangen, could stop viruses that have broken out in the past like swine flu or SARS. This time, the advisory is drawing fire from Chinese consumers and medical experts, who say it’s unhelpful and possibly driven by a desire to boost the local TCM industry. Most doctors believe the root works as a health supplement for immune support but others say its effectiveness at preventing stronger viruses still needs confirmation (video in Chinese).

One blogger on Chinese social media site Sina Weibo wrote, “Ten years ago it was banlangen, and 10 years later it’s still banlangen. Ten years ago experts were spouting nonsense, and 10 years later they still are.” Doctor Fang Shimin, a popular science writer wrote, “The traditional Chinese medicine industry is trying to cash in,” the South China Morning Post reported.

It would be easy for officials or businesses to take advantage of nervous Chinese residents who have bought up health products of questionable effectiveness during past health scares. Residents hoarded vinegar, and face masks ran out during the SARS outbreak in 2003. In 2011, there was a run on salts believed to mitigate radiation residents feared was drifting into the mainland from the meltdown of Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

Already, investors have piled into Chinese companies making pharmaceuticals and rice wine (also believed to help prevent catching bird flu), we reported. Today, panicked Chinese residents bought up ground banlangen, clearing out stocks of the product at a store in Shanghai and almost all at a pharmacy in Nanjing. Sina Weibo was lit up with over two million posts on the herb.

Officials may just be trying to offer residents some hope as health experts scramble to make a vaccine that doesn’t yet exist for the virus. Chinese officials, who developed a bad reputation after trying to cover up SARS, appear to be responding actively to the crisis that’s already killed six. Still, while their efforts might be serious, their advice doesn’t seem so. Officials in Shanghai also advised residents to sneeze on their elbows rather than their hands (which the US CDC also advises), and health authorities in Gansu province told people to take walks (link in Chinese) outside, listen to music, as well as massage the side (paywall) of one’s nose and light incense near parts of their legs and stomach.
I endorse banlangen as a great cold preventative. I'm not sure how it works against Bird Flu, but I always traveled with it in Asia.

[GeneChing]

Bird Flu Spreading? Netizens Report Mysterious Bird Deaths in China (http://en.rocketnews24.com/2013/04/10/bird-flu-spreading-netizens-report-mysterious-bird-deaths-in-china/)
9 hours ago by Jessica
http://sociorocketnewsen.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/birddead1.jpg?w=580&h=585

China is currently dealing with an outbreak of deadly bird flu (H7N9 virus). As of April 10, there have been nine deaths and 28 confirmed infections, largely in the Shanghai area. Officials have been taking measures to prevent the spread of the disease, but they may have acted too slowly.

A rash of shocking photos from around China has been shocking Web users over the last couple of days. The images show sparrows and pigeons lying dead on the ground with no visible signs of injury. And not just one or two, but several and sometimes more than 10 mysteriously downed birds, leaving many to speculate whether bird flu is to blame.

Dead birds have been confirmed in Nanjing, Chengdu and Hubei Province, where witnesses to the mass die-offs have photographed the carcasses and put them online.

According to one person in Nanjing, “Under a magnolia tree, there were all these dead sparrows. I have no idea where they came from or what killed them.”

Another person in Hubei said, “This pigeon just like fell out of the sky dead. At school, too, we found all these bodies of little songbirds.”

What would cause so many birds to drop dead at once without any visible sign of injury?

The problem appears to be centered in the Yangtze River Basin at the moment, with cases in Changzhou, Suzhou, Jingmen, and Huanggang. Hopefully, the relevant agencies in China will be able to swiftly deal with this problem.
Where there dead birds falling out of the sky like this with the previous outbreak? I can't remember and I'm too lazy to websearch it right now...

[mawali]

The Mainland has to be concerned with disease surveillance and follow-up but it appears they do not care. The Pigs in the River Incident probably probably started with factory(ies) dumping untreated waste chemicals, ingested by pigs resulting in death the river water carrying additional waste downstream to possible affected communities and with each step, no surveillance appeared to have taken place meaning the factory concerned, the pig feeding location and the owner of the pigs then the rotting pigs at the waterway where they finally laid to rest.

I haven't seen information on citations issued for failure to heed the guideleines protecting the commons of the people! Lose Lose all around!

[GeneChing]

I just heard of a martial arts tour to China that cancelled this summer.

Here's my personal account of traveling in China during the SARS epidemic: Shaolin Trips - Episode Two: Reigning in at the Brink of the Precipice (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/ezine/article.php?article=468)


Bird Flu Fears Mount in China as Herbal Remedies Run Out (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-16/bird-flu-fears-mount-in-china-as-herbal-remedies-run-out.html)
By Bloomberg News - Apr 17, 2013 8:06 AM PT

A popular herb called ban lan gen, or blue root, has been flying off pharmacy shelves across China as local governments encourage people to consider traditional remedies to ward off the latest bird flu virus.

With scientists so far unable to pinpoint the H7N9 influenza virus’ animal host, locals are preparing for a possible pandemic by stocking up on popular plant remedies as well as face masks and hand sanitizers and other over-the- counter medicines.

“Chinese people associate ban lan gen with anti-virus,” said Shen Jiangang, assistant director for research at the Chinese University of Hong Kong’s School of Chinese Medicine. “So when they hear about bird flu, they immediately think it might be effective to protect themselves although there is no experimental evidence.”

Ayurvedic and Chinese medicines have used the remedy for centuries. Scientists have proved it can relieve bacterial conjunctivitis in eye drops and found it has an antiviral effect in test tubes. There is no test to show it works against influenza.

That hasn’t stopped buyers. Chinese consumers, especially older ones, tend to believe in traditional formulations especially when it comes to cold and flu remedies, said Iwona Mamczur, an analyst at Mintel International Group Ltd. The market for over-the-counter medicines was worth 77.5 billion yuan ($12.5 billion) in 2011, according to a report from the London-based researcher.
Warm Drink

Ban lan gen is the root of a flowering plant known as dyer’s woad or indigo woad, and found in southeastern Europe, central Asia and eastern Siberia. The roots are dried and often processed into granules, which consumers ingest dissolved in hot water or tea. According to traditional Chinese medicine, which seeks to balance heat and cold in the body, the root can help clear the heat triggered by a viral attack, Shen said.

Patients should take the remedy under the guidance of a trained health practitioner, said Albert Leung, who heads Hong Kong University’s School of Chinese Medicine.

Huashi Pharmacy, located in Shanghai near the eastern bank of the Huangpu river, has started replenishing supplies of ban lan gen daily instead of weekly and still struggles to meet demand, according to pharmacy worker Zhang Zhijin.

Sales of facial masks have also gone up 10 times from before the H7N9 infections announcements, hand sanitizer has sold out, and companies have been bulk-ordering alcohol wipes for their employees, Zhang said.

Face Masks

Beijing Tongrentang (600085), which makes a product extracted from ban lan gen, said in an e-mail that the outbreak of H7N9 has boosted sales, but didn’t provide numbers. The company’s shares increased 1.9 percent to a two-week high of 22.20 yuan at the close of trading in Shanghai today.

Francis Chu, the Singapore-based inventor of the totobobo face mask, said he’s fielded more than 20 inquiries about the pollution-filtering equipment’s effectiveness against bird flu since the start of April. Sales are up eight-fold from the same period last year.

“Earlier in the year, most of the increased orders from China were because of the air pollution,” Chu said in a telephone interview. “Sales are still increasing, but now it’s because of worries about bird flu.”

Beyond anecdotal evidence, the surge is hard to quantify. Pharmaceutical companies reaped at least $10 billion in sales of vaccines and antivirals globally as a result of the 2009 swine flu outbreak, according to data compiled by Bloomberg at the time. It’s too early to tell whether H7N9 will touch off another pandemic.

No Immunity

Chinese authorities are struggling to identify the source and mode of transmission of the virus, which has sickened 82 people and killed 17 so far, most of them in China’s eastern provinces. While there is no evidence that H7N9 is spreading easily among people, it hasn’t been detected in humans before, so they have no natural immunity. That raises public health concerns, researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta said last week.

Sinovac Biotech Ltd. (SVA), the first company to win regulatory approval for a swine flu shot in 2009, surged 6.8 percent to $4.11 in Nasdaq trading on April 15 after Chief Executive Officer Yin Weidong said in an interview it is preparing to make immunizations against the new virus. Beijing-base Sinovac could have a first batch of the vaccine ready for commercial use by late July in the event of a pandemic, according to Yin.

Until such a vaccine is found, the race is on for Chinese citizens to track down the ban lan gen herb.

Zheng Bing, who works as an assistant at a local private equity firm, recently walked away empty-handed from three separate pharmacies in Beijing’s financial district. Zheng was told by his boss to stock up on the herb for the entire office. But he found that other anxious residents had beat him to the punch.

“I’m going to try a few more shops,” he said. “Otherwise I can’t answer my boss.”

[mawali]

Disease surveillance does not seem to be a priority for China. That being said, it would makes sense to identify the chemical composition of banlangen and work to produce the best variety and quality in order to counteract the SARS related problems. The mainland needs to get back to their public health concept as put forth by Ma Haide (Geroge Hatem)

[GeneChing]

Bad flu season...

H7N9 bird flu resurges in China ahead of Lunar New Year (http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/28/health/h7n9-bird-flu-china/)
By Madison Park, CNN
updated 12:04 AM EST, Tue January 28, 2014

http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/130418045351-china-markets-story-top.jpg
A vendor's child is placed between poultry cages in Wuhan, China, in this file picture.

Hong Kong (CNN) -- When Mr He, a 39-year-old furniture factory owner came down with flu symptoms late last year, he wasn't worried.

According to his family, the man, who worked in Guangdong province in southern China, had always been healthy.

Weeks later, He was on a ventilator. Hospitalized for about 20 days, he slipped into a vegetative state and later died, his family said.

He was diagnosed as having H7N9 virus, a new strain of avian flu that jumped from birds to humans for the first time last year, said his close cousin, who requested not to be identified.

"I couldn't believe it," she said. "How could this happen to him? It all came so suddenly to a healthy person."

In recent weeks, China has seen a spike in cases and experts are worried that infections will gather pace as the country celebrates the Lunar New Year this week - a peak time for travel and for poultry sales.

Fresh wave?

Since the strain was first reported in Shanghai in February 2013, it has affected 246 in mainland China, according to Hong Kong's Department of Health. The World Health Organization says that 56 have died from the disease.

The number of cases faded after May, but returned in late 2013. Like all flu strains, H7N9 cases increase during colder months.

In January alone, 19 deaths and 96 human cases have been reported, according to figures from the Chinese Center for Disease Control cited by state news agency Xinhua on Monday -- rivaling the initial wave of H7N9 cases seen in March 2013.

Cases have also been reported in Taiwan and in Hong Kong, which on Tuesday began culling 20,000 chickens after a sample of live chicken imported from mainland China tested positive for H7 viruses.

According to the WHO, most of the human cases were exposed to the H7N9 virus through contact with poultry or contaminated environments, such as live bird markets,

"When the chickens are very overcrowded, at the time of festivals like Christmas, Chinese New Year, and there are no bio-security measures taken, then the virus spreads through poultry very quickly," said Dr. Kwok-Yung Yuen, chair of infectious diseases at the University of Hong Kong.

"It's also possible that travelers will bring live poultry back to their own villages," he added.

The WHO does not plan to issue a special advisory ahead of the holiday, said Gregory Hartl, a spokesman with the organization.

"Further sporadic human cases are expected in affected and possibly neighboring areas, especially given expected increases in production, trade and transport of poultry associated with the upcoming Lunar New Year," the WHO warned.

The Lunar New Year is one of the biggest annual human migrations on the planet as most Chinese travel to spend the nearly two-week holiday with their families.

The H7N9 virus appears deadlier than the seasonal flu, but less virulent than another bird flu strain, H5N1, with a crude 30% mortality rate, said Yuen, who has worked on major outbreaks including Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome and H5N1.

He said the key is to implement sanitation measures at the live poultry markets. He drew parallels of the current situation in China with the first case of H5N1, which appeared in Hong Kong in 1997.

The Hong Kong government implemented rules such as requiring regular cleaning of transport cages, mandating a rest day when no live poultry would be allowed at the marketplace and ordering all unsold birds at the market to be killed in the evening.

Yuen said such measures are crucial to avoid the spread of the virus.

"There will be an increasing number of cases in the coming February to May unless the mainland government takes more stringent measures to stop this spread," Yuen said.

Live poultry trading has been halted in three cities in the hardest-hit province of Zhejiang in eastern China, Xinhua reported.

And in Shanghai, the live poultry trade will shut starting January 31 to April 30 to prevent spread of bird flu, according to Xinhua.

However, not all H7N9 patients have had close contact with live birds, including the case of He, whose cousin said his closest poultry contact was eating chicken at a restaurant.

On January 19, a 31-year-old Shanghai doctor died, marking the first medical worker death from the strain. The doctor, according to Xinhua, appeared to have limited exposure to poultry or a contaminated environment, .

Infection of health care workers is closely watched because it might indicate human-to-human transmission in a medical setting.

"Sometimes we just don't know the source," said the WHO's Hartl.

Not having exposure to poultry doesn't equate human-to-human transmission, he added. H7N9 does not appear to transmit easily among humans, according to the WHO.

Loved ones suffer

Family members who've seen their loved ones suffer from H7N9 describe a long, harrowing illness, that resembled pneumonia.

Zhang Kewei's 57-year-old father, who lived in eastern province of Zhejiang, was diagnosed as having H7N9 after developing a 104 degree Fahrenheit fever in November. He did not survive.

"He, at first, felt cold and had a fever and later, his oxygen level in his blood dropped to 40 per cent," said his daughter Zhang Kewei.

His family struggled to transfer him to a bigger hospital. When they did, it took several days to confirm that he had H7N9, she said.

"We couldn't stop crying," said Zhang. "But we had to wipe away tears, and told my dad that he was ill, but assured him that he would recover, but needed to suffer a little because the needles could hurt."

"My father then said: 'It's OK. I'm not afraid.'"

Beijing intern Andi Wang and CNN's Katie Hunt contributed to this report.

[GeneChing]

Bird Flu never really went away, just like measles and ebola. We just stop trending it and move on. :o


China confirms 100 human infections with H7N9 in 2015 (http://shanghaiist.com/2015/02/12/china_confirms_100_human_infections.php)

http://shanghaiist.com/attachments/benjamincost/foodbird.jpg

Health authorities said that the number of people infected with the H7N9 bird flu virus this year has reached 100, with Guangdong, Fujian, Zhejiang and Jiangsu seeing the most cases.

The latest case was reported in Shantou Guangdong, marking the province's 43rd bird flu case this winter.

The Shanghai Health and Family Planning Commission confirmed the first human infection with H7N9 in the city on January 17. The second case was reported about a week after. Live poultry trade will be banned across the city from February 19 to April 30 to lessen chances of further infection.

The number of cases reported this year is slightly less than what was seen around this time last year. By February 17 last year, at least 120 human H7N9 cases were reported, including 32 deaths.

By Katie Nelson in News on Feb 12, 2015 10:00 AM

[GeneChing]

Just in time for the Year of the Rooster (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?69980-2017-Year-of-the-Fire-Rooster)


Patient treated in Shanghai as cases of bird flu rise (http://www.shanghaidaily.com/metro/health-and-science/Patient-treated-in-Shanghai-as-cases-of-bird-flu-rise/shdaily.shtml)
Source: Agencies | December 23, 2016, Friday

http://www.shanghaidaily.com/newsimage/2016/12/23/020161223005621.jpg

CHINA has reported two more cases of human bird flu infection, with one patient being treated in a Shanghai hospital, bringing the total number to three this week as other Asian nations battle to control outbreaks.

Health officials in South Korea and Japan have been scrambling to contain outbreaks of different strains of bird flu, with the poultry industry in both countries bracing for heavy financial losses.

A man diagnosed with the H7N9 strain of bird flu is being treated in Shanghai, after traveling from neighboring Jiangsu Province, the city’s health commission said on its website.

The local government in Jiangsu is looking into the origin of the infection, the provincial health authority said.

In Xiamen, a city in southeast China’s Fujian Province with a population of around 3.5 million, local authorities ordered a halt to poultry sales from yesterday in the Siming district after a 44-year-old man was diagnosed with H7N9 flu on Sunday, Xinhua news agency reported.

The patient is being treated in hospital and is in stable condition, Xinhua said, citing Xiamen’s center for disease prevention and control.

The latest reports of infection come after Hong Kong confirmed that an elderly man had been diagnosed with the disease earlier in the week.

They also follow reports that South Korea and Japan have ordered the killing of tens of millions of birds over the past month, fueling fears of a regional spread.

Bird flu is most likely to strike in winter and spring, and farmers have in recent years been increasing cleaning regimes, animal detention techniques and built roofs to cover pens where they keep poultry, among other steps, to prevent the disease.

In the past two months, more than 110,000 birds have been killed following bird flu outbreaks, according to China’s Ministry of Agriculture. They did not lead to human infection.

Each year, China slaughters 11 billion birds for consumption.

Authorities have not culled any birds as a result of this week’s episodes, which appear to be isolated cases.

Still, farmers worry that the virus could spread, hurting demand for chicken as the industry prepares for a peak in demand during Lunar New Year celebrations at the end of January.

Amid recent outbreaks elsewhere, the Chinese are feeding their flocks more vitamins and vaccines and ramping up sterilization procedures in a bid to protect their birds.

On Wednesday, authorities said that they would ban imports of poultry from countries where there are outbreaks of highly pathogenic bird flu. It already prohibits imports from more than 60 nations, including Japan and South Korea.

The last major bird flu outbreak on China’s mainland was in 2013. It killed 36 people and caused around US$6.5 billion in losses to the agriculture sector.

Delegations from Japan, South Korea and China were in Beijing last week for a symposium on preventing and controlling bird flu and other diseases, according to China’s agriculture ministry.

[GeneChing]

Bird Flu Is Circling in China Again—Here's How It Could Develop into an Outbreak (https://www.invisiverse.com/news/bird-flu-is-circling-china-again-heres-could-develop-into-outbreak-0176101/)
BY CYNTHIA WALLENTINE 02/10/2017 10:49 AM

Avian flu is making the news again with new human cases in China reported in January. What does "avian flu" mean to you—and how dangerous is it?

Each year you, or someone you know, probably gets a flu shot. The seasonal flu shot changes each year to reflect circulating influenza viruses. This year, the flu shot protects against two influenza A viruses, and one influenza B virus. Influenza is a respiratory virus that causes fatigue, fever, aches, headache, cold-type symptoms, and more.

In addition to humans, influenza A viruses also afflict dogs, pigs, seals, horses, and even whales, but doesn't always sicken its host. Wild waterfowl also get influenza A, or avian influenza, and are primary reservoirs for the frequently mutating virus, taking it with them along migratory pathways and into bird markets.

The wet markets of China are marketplaces crowded with animals and humans together in conditions ripe for microbial transfer. These markets are a dangerous mixing pot for seasonal, human-adapted influenzas and wild ones to which humans aren't able to fight off.

Many avian flus come from conditions like this and can be mild or dangerous, depending on how well they spread between humans and how sick they make us. For wild birds and wet markets, there is no vaccine and no way to stop of spread of infection between birds, other than killing them en masse.

What's in a Name?

Influenza is a complicated virus and keeping its strains, or names, straight can be confusing. Different strains of the virus have slightly different genetic code and can infect different hosts, in different ways, with varying degrees of danger. The January 2017 alert from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is specifically an avian strain of influenza A called H7N9, which has low pathogenicity and can infect both birds and humans.

Most influenza virus strains include H and N numbers. You might also see something like HPAI or LPAI. These terms simply mean "high pathogenic avian influenza" and "low pathogenic avian influenza," and refer to the capability of the virus strain to cause disease. A highly pathogenic strain of influenza results in higher infection rates.

For example, the influenza epidemic of 1918 was caused by a strain of influenza A, type H1N1. By the time the Spanish flu subsided, one-third of the population of the planet had been infected, and between 50 and 100 million people had died. Later in the century, researchers used modern tools and data analysis to discover the virulent flu strain had mutated in pigs, and then transformed to infect humans.

https://img.wonderhowto.com/img/original/42/56/63622317726678/0/636223177266784256.jpg
Red Cross workers training in Washington, D.C. during the influenza pandemic of 1918.
Image by National Photo Company/Library of Congress

The Spanish flu pandemic is called the "mother of all pandemics," for its modern-day severity, and because its genetic material drifted forward, becoming incorporated in avian and other flu strains present today.

Where Does That Leave Us?

Because of some probable remaining immunity in humans to the H1N1 strain that caused the 1918 pandemic, the CDC does not believe the same flu strain will cause another pandemic. The danger exists from emerging influenza A types that borrow the ability to move from animal, like a pig or bird, to human.

We saw this back in 1996 when the highly pathogenic avian flu strain H5N1 was isolated in geese farmed in southern China. Given the tight confines of Chinese wet markets, the strain successfully jumped to humans, with approximately 900 reported infections and more than 400 deaths.

Spreading across Asia, Europe, and Africa, these highly pathogenic avian flu strains gained a wealth of genetic diversity, making it easier for influenza A to adapt to new conditions—and new hosts.

In wet markets, wild bush animals and birds are packed side by side with domestic poultry, reptiles, fish in buckets, caged rats, bagged, living cats, dogs intended for cooking, and more. These markets are believed to play a part in the transfer of avian influenza strains to humans through crowded conditions, accumulation of animal waste, and chronic contamination of cages and other equipment. Consumers crowd into market stalls packed and stacked with these live animals in cages.

https://img.wonderhowto.com/img/08/52/63621481127428/0/bird-flu-is-circling-china-again-heres-could-develop-into-outbreak.w1456.jpg
Ducks in a wet market in China.
Image by Daniel Case/Wikimedia Commons

A 2014 study of wet markets found "that poultry workers and the general population are constantly exposed to H7N9 virus at these markets." Of the ongoing outbreaks and mutations of avian influenza strains in China, the World Health Organization notes:


[I]t can be assumed that interspecies transmission of influenza A viruses occurs more frequently than we think, mainly from birds to mammalian species. Although the outbreaks in poultry have weakened economies and jeopardized food security, the greatest concern for human health is the risk that present conditions could give rise to an influenza pandemic."

In August 2016, China reported an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza called H5N6. By January 2017, Chinese health authorities reported that another 110 people are confirmed with infections from influenza A type H7N9 from an outbreak that began in September 2016. As expected, many of these were individuals who worked with, or had visited, wet markets.

Those numbers are just the top of the stack. Since 2013, more than 900 confirmed cases of H7N9 have been reported in China, with a mortality rate of about a third of those infected. A few cases of human-to-human infection, without transmission through a bird market, have occurred, but they remain rare—at present.

In southern China, it is not unusual for humans to share their space with their food animals, mixing microbes, breathing the same air, swiping waste from a sleeve, or sorting diseased and dead animals from the living. With influenza A strains mixing and mutating in these conditions right now, it is only a matter of time before H7N9, or other virulent flu type, figures out how to share itself by a sneeze or cough and perhaps causing the next global pandemic.

Wet markets. ew.

[GeneChing]

I just realized I never added my article Shaolin Trips: Episode 2 - Reigning in at the Brink of the Precipice (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/ezine/article.php?article=468), which relates my experiences travelling during the SARS outbreak. SARS isn't bird flu, but epidemics are epidemics, so it's a cautionary tale about travelling to China when there's an outbreak.


79 people killed in January by bird flu in China's worst outbreak on record (http://shanghaiist.com/2017/02/15/bird_flu_outbreak.php)
BY ALEX LINDER IN NEWS ON FEB 15, 2017 5:40 PM

http://shanghaiist.com/attachments/alexlinder/poultry-market-front.jpg

The bird flu season this year is already shaping up to be the most terrifying in China on record with the virus infecting 192 people and killing 79 in January alone.
That number far outpaces the January death tolls in recent years, which have ranged between 20 and 31 people, and has skyrocketed since two deaths and seven infections alarmed the country back in December. The total number of those killed by the virus since October is now up to 100, along with 306 people infected, Reuters reports, citing data from China's National Health and Family Planning Commission.
This revelation has caused Chinese chicken prices to drop to their lowest level in more than a decade, placing China's poultry producers in a precarious situation.

http://shanghaiist.com/attachments/benjamincost/foodbird.jpg

The virus is known to strike each winter and spring. Following an outbreak in 2013 that caused widespread panic, killing 36 people and resulting in more than $6 billion in economic losses for China's agricultural sector, China began to institute measures to contain and prevent the disease.
This winter, those policies have led to poultry markets around the country being shut down and some 175,000 birds being culled as Chinese authorities have become increasingly worried about the spread of the deadly virus.
Last week, Guangzhou officials advised residents to avoid contact with any live poultry after one-third of poultry markets in the city were found to be contaminated with bird flu.

[GeneChing]

The raging bird flu in China is a good reminder the US isn't prepared for a pandemic (http://www.vox.com/2017/3/2/14478400/deadly-bird-flu-china-h7n9)
The virus has a fatality rate of up to 40 percent.
Updated by Julia Belluz@juliaoftoronto julia.belluz@voxmedia.com Mar 3, 2017, 12:19pm EST

https://cdn0.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/_wWQpZmTiqZ21Jj3ShsM_UCsFq4=/0x0:2121x1414/920x613/filters:focal(477x475:815x813):format(webp)/cdn2.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/53506757/GettyImages_140554143.0.jpg
H7N9 typically surfaces at live poultry markets in China. Forty percent of those with confirmed infections have died — including at least 87 people this year alone. Karl Johaentges / LOOK-foto.

A strain of deadly bird flu that has a high risk of becoming a pandemic is surging in China, and experts are warning that the US isn’t making the necessary preparations.

According to an assessment from the World Health Organization this week, China had 460 lab-confirmed human cases of the H7N9 bird flu virus since last October — the most of any flu season since the virus was first reported in humans in 2013.

This makes the current outbreak the largest on record for H7N9, a virus that typically circulates around poultry markets and can cause pneumonia or death when it spreads to people. Forty percent of those with confirmed H7N9 infections have died — including at least 87 people this year alone. That’s a very deadly pathogen.

The risk of the current outbreak causing a global epidemic is low right now, the WHO said. Almost all of the current infections were caught directly from birds and there’s no evidence yet of ongoing human-to-human transmission. But whenever bird flu spreads to people, there’s always the worry that it will mutate to become more contagious.


Follow (https://twitter.com/RonaldKlain/status/836684479804674048?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)
Ronald Klain ✔ @RonaldKlain
WARNING: America isn't ready & the Trump Admin--understaffed, inexperienced, isolationist--DEFINITELY isn't ready: https://www.statnews.com/2017/02/28/bird-flu-surge/ …
1:08 PM - 28 Feb 2017

https://pbs.twimg.com/card_img/836680245533016065/fFZdAc-Z?format=jpg&name=800x419
Photo published for Human cases of H7N9 bird flu are surging, officials say
Human cases of H7N9 bird flu are surging, officials say
The H7N9 bird flu virus, which has sickened and killed several hundred people in China, had seemed to be diminishing as a threat.
statnews.com
731 731 Retweets 650 650 likes

Most people at risk of H7N9 virus right now are in China, particularly those who work in the poultry sector. Vietnam should also be on guard; reports suggest the virus has surfaced there as well.

But if this H7N9 outbreak were to spread further, experts say we’re not ready.

“America has long been unprepared for a dangerous pandemic, but the risks are especially high under President Trump,” the former Ebola czar Ron Klain told Vox.

Trump hasn’t yet named nominees for a new head to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, the agency that would lead a pandemic response. He also hasn’t nominated anyone to head Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, or USAID — two other key agencies in a pandemic.

With the repeal of the Affordable Care Act looming, Trump is poised to gut a key public health fund that accounts for 12 percent of the CDC’s budget, and he’s reinstated the global gag rule, which depletes global health funding. “His proposed cuts in foreign aid,” Klain added, “will devastate work to detect and combat disease outbreaks abroad — the very best way to prevent those diseases from coming to America.”

If it’s not a bird flu outbreak, it’ll be some other health threat. The pace at which pathogens are flying around the globe and threatening pandemics is only accelerating. Over the past decade, the WHO has declared four global health emergencies. Two of them happened during President Obama’s tenure (Ebola and Zika). There’s slim chance Trump will finish a four-year term without facing an outbreak of some kind.

As for H7N9, it’s very possible it could spread to birds and people in other countries, said Dr. Tim Uyeki, a medical epidemiologist in CDC’s influenza division.

“Among the viruses we’ve assessed... H7N9 is the most concerning. It’s at the top of the list,” Uyeki said. “We don’t know when the next pandemic is going to start, where it’s going to start. But at this time the biggest concern is the H7N9 virus.”

Treating the current cases is also proving to be a challenge since some seem to carry genetic markers associated with drug resistance to antiviral treatments for the disease, like Tamiflu. A new assessment from the CDC also shows the virus has also split into a new lineage — which is a problem because the vaccine development for H7N9 was based on an older lineage of the virus. So we don’t have any vaccine candidates in the pipeline to fully address the current outbreak.

It's important to understand that H7N9 is different than H5N1. There are about 40 different strains of Avian Flu.

[GeneChing]

U.S. IDENTIFIES BIRD FLU OUTBREAK AT TENNESSEE CHICKEN BREEDER (http://www.newsweek.com/us-identifies-bird-flu-outbreak-tennessee-chicken-breeder-564145?rx=us)
BY REUTERS ON 3/5/17 AT 5:35 PM
First Study Of Human Transmission Of New Bird Flu Raises Worries

U.S.BIRD FLU TENNESSEE

A strain of bird flu has been detected in a commercial chicken breeder flock in Tennessee's Lincoln County and the 73,500 birds will be culled to prevent the virus from entering the food system, U.S. and state agriculture officials said on Sunday.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said this represented the first confirmed case of highly pathogenic H7 avian influenza (HPAI) in commercial poultry in the United States this year.

The facility has been placed under quarantine, along with approximately 30 other poultry farms within a 6.2-mile (10 km) radius of the site, the Tennessee state government said. Other flocks in the quarantined area are being tested for the virus, it added.

http://s.newsweek.com/sites/www.newsweek.com/files/styles/full/public/2017/03/05/0305birdflu01.JPG
A Centers for Disease Control scientist measures the amount of H7N9 avian flu virus which was grown and harvested in an unnamed CDC laboratory in 2013.
REUTERS

In 2014 and 2015, the United States killed nearly 50 million birds, mostly egg-laying hens, during a bout of HPAI. The losses pushed U.S. egg prices to record highs and prompted trading partners to ban imports of U.S. poultry.

No humans were affected in that outbreak. The risk of human infection in poultry outbreaks is low, although in China people have died this winter amid an outbreak of the H7N9 virus in birds.

HPAI bird flu was found in a commercial turkey flock in Indiana in January 2016 but there have been no other cases in commercial flocks until now.

The breeders at the Tennessee facility were for the broiler flock, USDA spokeswoman Donna Karlsons said in an email.

In January, the USDA detected bird flu in a wild duck in Montana that appeared to match one of the strains found during the 2014 and 2015 outbreak.

In recent months, different strains of bird flu have been confirmed across Asia and in Europe. Authorities have culled millions of birds in affected areas to control the outbreaks.

France, which has the largest poultry flock in the European Union, has reported outbreaks of the highly contagious H5N8 bird flu virus. In South Korea, the rapid spread of the H5N6 strain of the virus has led to the country's worst-ever outbreak of bird flu.

TN has 30 poultry farms within a 6.2-mile radius of the site. That seems dense, but perhaps there are as many poultry farms in any such region. Americans eat a lot of nuggets.

[herb ox]

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5324200/?report=reader#!po=19.5652

Easily formulated but contains ephedra, which is banned in the US. Acupuncturists and Herbalists need to unite to educate the FDA on the truth regarding ephedra. In the TCM application of this medicinal, it has a high margin of safety and an incredible efficacy... but that's another discussion for another time.

ABSTRACT

Background

Lianhuaqingwen Capsule (LH-C) is a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) formula used to treat respiratory tract infectious diseases in Chinese. The aim of this study was to determine the antiviral activity of LH-C and its immunomodulatory effects on viral infection.

Method

The in vitro cytotoxicity and antiviral activity of LH-C was determined by MTT and Plaque reduction assays. Time course study under single-cycle virus growth conditions were used to determine which stage of viral replication was blocked. The effect of LH-C on the nuclear export of the viral nucleoprotein was examined using an indirect immunofluorescence assay. The regulation to different signaling transduction events and cytokine/chemokine expression of LH-C was evaluated using Western blotting and real-time RT-PCR. After virus inoculation, BALB/c mice were administered with LH-C of different concentrations for 5 days. Body-weight, viral titers and lung pathology of the mice were measured, the level of inflammatory cytokines were also examined using real-time RT-PCR.

Results

LH-C inhibited the proliferation of influenza viruses of various strain in vitro, with the 50% inhibitory concentration (IC50) ranging from 0.35 to 2 mg/mL. LH-C blocked the early stages (0–2 h) of virus infection, it also suppressed virus-induced NF-kB activation and alleviated virus-induced gene expression of IL-6, IL-8, TNF-a, IP-10, and MCP-1 in a dose-dependent manner. LH-C treatment efficiently impaired the nuclear export of the viral RNP. A decrease of the viral titers in the lungs of mice were observed in groups administered with LH-C. The level of inflammatory cytokines were also decreased in the early stages of infection.

Conclusions

LH-C, as a TCM prescription, exerts broad-spectrum effects on a series of influenza viruses, including the newly emerged H7N9, and particularly regulates the immune response of virus infection. Thus, LH-C might be a promising option for treating influenza virus infection.

[GeneChing]

More dead. Less panic. Go figure. :confused:


161 people have been killed by bird flu this winter in China's worst outbreak since 2009 (http://shanghaiist.com/2017/03/14/bird_flu_outbreak.php)
BY ALEX LINDER IN NEWS ON MAR 14, 2017 12:35 AM

http://shanghaiist.com/attachments/benjamincost/foodbird.jpg

This year's bird flu season continues to set records in China with the virus infecting another 160 people and killing 61 in the month of February.
Since last October, 161 people have been killed by the H7N9 virus in the most deadly avian flu outbreak the country has seen since at least 2009, the Chinese government said on Monday.
Fortunately, the worst is likely behind us. Fatalities dropped in February from a high of 79 in January. Infections tend to fall off at the end of winter.

http://shanghaiist.com/attachments/alexlinder/poultry-market-front.jpg

Following a bird flu outbreak in 2013 that caused widespread panic, killing 36 people and resulting in more than $6 billion in economic losses for China's agricultural sector, China began to institute measures to contain and prevent the disease.
This winter, those policies led to poultry markets around the country being shut down and some 175,000 birds being culled as Chinese authorities have become increasingly worried about the spread of the deadly virus.

[herb ox]

Not TCM related per se but along the lines of ethomedicine origins of emerging pharmaceutical interventions... h.ox



Frog Skin Mucus May Help Kill Strains Of Flu Virus (http://www.techtimes.com/articles/205235/20170419/frog-skin-mucus-may-help-kill-strains-of-flu-virus.htm)
19 April 2017, 7:13 am EDT By Allan Adamson Tech Times

10284

The slime that coats the skin of a species of colorful frogs found in southern India may help kill strains of the flu virus.

In a new study involving mice, researchers found that certain peptides present in the skin mucus of the Hydrophylax bahuvistara frogs can kill the H1 variety of influenza viruses.
What Are Peptides?

Peptides are short chains of amino acids that are known as the building blocks of protein. The skin of frogs secretes peptides that can kill viruses and bacteria.

Findings of a new research published in the journal Immunity on April 18 suggest that these peptides could be a potential source of new antiviral and antimicrobial treatments.

Such treatments can help when vaccines are not available to deal with new strains of pandemic flu or once currently known flu strains develop resistance to available drugs. Flu comes in several varieties and may evolve into new forms, which is why researchers need to develop new vaccines for a specific type of the virus every flu season.

Frogs As Source Of Defense Peptides

All animals produce at least a few antimicrobial host defense peptides since these are involved in the workings of their immune systems. Frogs, however, are of interest to researchers as a source of these peptides because it is relatively easy to isolate peptides that are found in their mucus.

All the researchers need to do is give the amphibians an electric shock. They can also rub a powder on the animals so they would secrete their defense peptides.

Urumin

Jacob and his colleagues looked at 32 frog defense peptides for use against a flu strain and found that four of these had flu-busting abilities.

Unfortunately, when they exposed isolated human red blood cells to these peptides, they found that three of the four peptides were toxic.

Urumin, one of the peptides present in the frog's mucus, appeared harmless to human cells but was found lethal to a range of flu viruses.
How Urumin Works Against Flu Viruses

Urumin works by targeting the viral surface protein hemagluttinin, the H in H1N1.

"The virus needs this hemagglutinin to get inside our cells," said study researcher Joshy Jacob of Emory University. "What this peptide does is it binds to the hemagglutinin and destabilizes the virus. And then it kills the virus."

In experiments involving mice, urumin, was found to provide protection to unvaccinated mice. The peptide binds to a protein that is identical across many strains of influenza. Researchers found that the peptide can neutralize dozens of flu strains ranging from the 1934 archival viruses to those that sprung in modern times.
Urumin As Potential Antiviral Treatment For Flu

Urumin appears to have limitation. The peptide protected mice against a lethal dose of H1 flu strain but it was not found effective against the H3N2. Researchers though remain optimistic of its potentials as a treatment for flu.

"Urumin represents a unique class of anti-influenza virucide that specifically targets the hemagglutinin stalk region, similar to targeting of antibodies induced by universal influenza vaccines," Jacob and colleagues wrote in their study.

"Urumin therefore has the potential to contribute to first-line anti-viral treatments during influenza outbreaks."
- See more at: http://www.techtimes.com/articles/205235/20170419/frog-skin-mucus-may-help-kill-strains-of-flu-virus.htm#sthash.gRTU5bhx.dpuf

[GeneChing]

China reports new bird flu outbreak in Yunnan province (https://www.businessinsider.com/r-china-reports-new-bird-flu-outbreak-in-yunnan-province-2019-2)
Reuters 2m

BEIJING (Reuters) - China reported a new H5N6 bird flu outbreak in the southwestern province of Yunnan, the agriculture ministry said on Friday.

The new case, found on a poultry farm with 2,861 birds in Lijiang city in Yunnan, infected and killed 463 of the animals, China's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs said in a statement published on its website.

Local authorities have culled 55,917 birds following the outbreak, according to the statement.

(Reporting by Hallie Gu and Ryan Woo; Editing by Tom Hogue) poultry pestilence :(

[GeneChing]

Published: February 4, 2020 3:19 PM UTC
Bird Flu: China’s Ticking Time Bomb of Infectious Disease (https://www.ccn.com/bird-flu-chinas-ticking-time-bomb-of-infectious-disease/)
As the world grapples with the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak, a new disease emerges: a highly-fatal bird-flu known as H5N1.
Author: William Ebbs @ebbs_william

https://www.ccn.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/aSfynQv1F2w-768x512.jpg
As China's ascendancy to world power continues, infectious diseases could become the norm. | Image: REUTERS / Bobby Yip / File Photo

A highly pathogenic strain of bird flu, H5N1, has caused an outbreak in China’s Hunan province, near ground zero of the deadly coronavirus.

The disease doesn’t easily infect humans but when it does, it carries a staggering mortality rate of 60% according to the WHO.

China is a hotbed of emerging diseases. As the country rises to economic prominence, this puts the global economy at risk.

For most people who live in first world countries, infectious diseases are not a big concern. We get a cocktail of vaccines as children and go on to live relatively healthy lives. The biggest things we have to worry about are the common flu, the common cold, and occasionally, strep throat. As China rises to global prominence, in a world that has grown increasingly interconnected, things may be changing.

We could be reverting to a time when deadly diseases were a fact of life for everyone – in every country.

As the global coronavirus outbreak grows to infect over 20,000 with 425 fatalities, China finds itself in the cross hairs of a new, dangerous outbreak: bird flu, an infection that can kill poultry and humans alike. While the disease, known as H5N1, hasn’t infected any humans yet, it’s revealing a disturbing pattern with global implications. New diseases are emerging at an alarming rate, and this puts the whole world at risk.

The Coronavirus Is Still At Large

According to the latest data, Wuhan coronavirus has grown to infect 20,680 people – the majority in Hubei province, China. The disease has spread to 27 countries and 427 people have died.

In response, U.S authorities have taken drastic actions to limit contact with China. The State Department has issued a travel warning, airlines are canceling flights and American companies with Chinese operations are shuttering operations in the country.

https://www.ccn.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Travel-warning-1.png
Source: twitter.com

Authorities should have the ability to get the coronavirus under control but what will they do when the next massive outbreak crops up? Can the global economy withstand these repeated shocks?

Another Outbreak: Bird Flu

According to China’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, the nation is experiencing an outbreak of a highly pathogenic strain of bird flu called H5N1. The disease has already killed 4,500 chickens in Hunan province alone and the government has culled almost 18,000 chickens to prevent its spread.

According to the United States Geological Survey, there’s no need to panic about the term “highly pathogenic” because it refers to the virus’s ability to kill chickens, not humans.

They state the following:


The designation of low or highly pathogenic avian influenza refers to the potential for these viruses to kill chickens. The designation of “low pathogenic” or “highly pathogenic” does not refer to how infectious the viruses may be to humans, other mammals, or other species of birds.

The World Health Organization (WHO) paints a more disturbing picture of the disease.


Human cases of H5N1 avian influenza occur occasionally, but it is difficult to transmit the infection from person to person. When people do become infected, the mortality rate is about 60%.

They go on to elaborate

Influenza viruses constantly undergo genetic changes. It would be a cause for concern, should the H5N1 virus become more easily transmissible among humans.


A 60% mortality rate is staggering. To put this in perspective, note that coronavirus has a mortality rate of only 2.1% while SARS had a mortality rate of 9.6%. With a mortality rate of 60%, the bird flu is as deadly as Ebola. While it doesn’t currently spread well among humans, experts believe it can mutate into more virulent forms.

This is a ticking time bomb.

This article was edited by Sam Bourgi.

William Ebbs @ebbs_william
As a writer with over five years of experience, William Ebbs has contributed to CCN, The Motley Fool and other wonderful clients. He has earned millions of page views with his hard-hitting, opinionated work. He focuses on financial markets and business. When Will isn't writing, he enjoys strategy gaming, heated debates, and researching for his next article. William Ebbs is based in the United States of America and can be reached at qzh8778@outlook.com

THREADS
Bird Flu (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?40216-fearable-bird-flu)
Coronavirus (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71666-Coronavirus-Wuhan-Pneumonia)

[GeneChing]

Bird flu: humans infected with H5N8 strain for first time in Russia (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/feb/20/bird-flu-humans-infected-with-h5n8-strain-for-first-time-in-russia)
Seven poultry workers found to be infected, but no evidence of transmission between humans

https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/4f967e937f809b2a3320a8533d7e49164ec4a38c/0_44_4243_2546/master/4243.jpg
Turkey hens in Germany. The H5N8 strain is deadly for birds, and this marks the first transmission of the strain from animals to humans. Photograph: Jens Buettner/EPA
Molly Blackall
Sat 20 Feb 2021 12.17 EST

A H5N8 strain of bird flu has been detected in humans for the first time, among seven workers who were infected at a Russian poultry plant in December.

There is no evidence of the strain being transmitted between humans, but Russia has reported the transmission to the World Health Organization.

The workers now feel well, and “the situation did not develop further”, according to Dr Anna Popova, head of consumer health watchdog Rospotrebnadzor. She said the workers had been infected during an outbreak of the strain at the plant.

Outbreaks of the strain have been reported in Russia, Europe, China, the Middle East and north Africa in recent months, but only in poultry.

Other strains of bird flu, including H5N1, H7N9 and H9N2, have been transmitted to humans before.

The H5N8 strain is deadly for birds, and this marks the first transmission of the strain from animals to humans. While Popova said the strain didn’t appear to be able to spread among humans, “only time will tell how soon future mutations will allow it to overcome this barrier”.

The discovery of this strain “gives us all, the whole world, time to prepare for possible mutations and the possibility to react in a timely way and develop test systems and vaccines,” she said.

The Vector Institute in Siberia said on Saturday that it would start developing human tests and a vaccine against H5N8, according to RIA news agency.

Speaking on state TV, Popova said that Russia had reported the developments to the WHO several days ago, “just as we became absolutely certain of our results”.

Most cases of human bird flu infections have been linked to direct contact with infected live or dead poultry, though properly cooked food is considered safe.

The cases tend to be spread via migrating wild birds, leading producing countries to keep their poultry indoors or segregated from wildlife.

Outbreaks of bird flu often lead poultry plants to kill their birds to prevent the virus spreading further, and often prompts other countries to impose trade restrictions. In the UK, five outbreaks of the H5N8 strain in Gloucestershire, Dorset, Devon, Cheshire and Kent were detected in November, leading officials to implement a prevention zone in England, Scotland and Wales.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said that all birds in the affected areas had been culled “humanely” and control zones introduced.
The future is in vaxxing...

[GeneChing]

...it's another. :(


October 26, 2021
12:50 AM PDT
Last Updated 9 hours ago
Environment
Rise in human bird flu cases in China shows risk of fast-changing variants: experts (https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/rise-human-bird-flu-cases-china-shows-risk-fast-changing-variants-health-experts-2021-10-26/)
By Dominique Patton

4 minute read
https://www.reuters.com/resizer/B8N7lzL7jS721oeNA1ec3Anybvw=/960x0/filters:quality(80)/cloudfront-us-east-2.images.arcpublishing.com/reuters/YOEGBGKMP5JLDKNC5T274DEZJU.jpg
A man provides water for chickens inside a greenhouse at a farm in Heihe, Heilongjiang province, China November 17, 2019. REUTERS/Stringer


BEIJING, Oct 26 (Reuters) - A jump in the number of people in China infected with bird flu this year is raising concern among experts, who say a previously circulating strain appears to have changed and may be more infectious to people.

China has reported 21 human infections with the H5N6 subtype of avian influenza in 2021 to the World Health Organization (WHO), compared with only five last year, it said.

Though the numbers are much lower than the hundreds infected with H7N9 in 2017, the infections are serious, leaving many critically ill, and at least six dead.

"The increase in human cases in China this year is of concern. It's a virus that causes high mortality," said Thijs Kuiken, professor of comparative pathology at Erasmus University Medical Centre in Rotterdam.

Most of the cases had come into contact with poultry, and there are no confirmed cases of human-to-human transmission, said the WHO, which highlighted the rise in cases in a statement on Oct. 4.

It said further investigation was "urgently" required to understand the risk and the increase in spill over to people.

Since then, a 60-year-old woman in Hunan province was admitted to hospital in a critical condition with H5N6 influenza on Oct. 13, according to a Hong Kong government statement.

While human H5N6 cases have been reported, no outbreaks of H5N6 have been reported in poultry in China since February 2020.

China is the world's biggest poultry producer and top producer of ducks, which act as a reservoir for flu viruses.

The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) could not be reached for comment on the rise in H5N6 human cases. However, a study published on its website last month said the "increasing genetic diversity and geographical distribution of H5N6 pose a serious threat to the poultry industry and human health".

Avian influenza viruses constantly circulate in domestic and wild birds, but rarely infect people. However, the evolution of the viruses, which have increased as poultry populations grow, is a major concern because they could change into a virus that spreads easily between people and cause a pandemic.

The largest number of H5N6 infections have been in southwestern Sichuan province, though cases have also been reported in neighbouring Chongqing and Guangxi, as well as Guangdong, Anhui and Hunan provinces.

At least 10 were caused by viruses genetically very similar to the H5N8 virus that ravaged poultry farms across Europe last winter and also killed wild birds in China. That suggests the latest H5N6 infections in China may be a new variant.

"It could be that this variant is a little more infectious (to people)...or there could be more of this virus in poultry at the moment and that's why more people are getting infected," said Kuiken.

Four of the Sichuan cases raised poultry at home and had been in contact with dead birds, said a September report by China's CDC. Another had bought a duck from a live poultry market a week before developing symptoms.

China vaccinates poultry against avian influenza but the vaccine used last year may only partially protect against emerging viruses, preventing large outbreaks but allowing the virus to keep circulating, said Filip Claes, Regional Laboratory Coordinator at the Emergency Centre for Transboundary Animal Diseases at the Food and Agriculture Organization.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs did not respond to a request for comment.

Backyard farms in China are common and many people still prefer to buy live chickens at markets.

Guilin city in Guangxi region, which had two human cases in August, said last month it had suspended trading of live poultry in 13 urban markets and would abolish the trade within a year.

Reporting by Dominique Patton; Editing by Michael Perry

[GeneChing]

...epidemics don't necessarily ever go away. They just subside.



Person Catches Bird Flu in 'Very Rare' Case of Animal to Human Transmission (https://www.newsweek.com/bird-flu-avian-person-catches-very-rare-case-animal-human-transmission-1666305)
BY ROBERT LEA ON 1/6/22 AT 9:16 AM EST

A"very rare" case of bird flu has been detected in a human in southwest England, a U.K. government agency confirmed on Thursday.

The U.K. Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said that the person had been in close contact with infected birds and there was no evidence of onward transmission.

The UKHSA said: "The person acquired the infection from very close, regular contact with a large number of infected birds, which they kept in and around their home over a prolonged period of time.

"All contacts of the individual, including those who visited the premises, have been traced and there is no evidence of onward spread of the infection to anyone else. The individual is currently well and self-isolating. The risk to the wider public from avian flu continues to be very low."

The U.K.'s chief veterinary officer, Christine Middlemiss, said in a press release that the risk of the spread of avian flu had been further diminished by rapid action.

She said: "While avian influenza is highly contagious in birds, this is a very rare event and is very specific to the circumstances on this premises.

"We took swift action to limit the spread of the disease at the site in question, all infected birds have been humanely culled, and cleansing and disinfection of the premises is underway. This is a reminder that stringent cleanliness when keeping animals is important."

The UKHSA said that the U.K. has recently seen a large number of outbreaks and incidents of the H5N1 strain of avian influenza in birds across the country. This has prompted the U.K.'s Chief Veterinary Officer and the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) to issue alerts to bird owners.

This case was detected when APHA identified an outbreak of avian flu in a flock of birds as part of routine testing. The UKHSA said that the World Health Organization had been informed of the infection.

It added that to prevent the spread of avian flu, it is important that people do not touch or otherwise handle dead birds. Exposed people are offered anti-viral treatment to stop the virus from reproducing in their bodies, thus limiting the spread of avian flu.

Professor Ian Jones, a virologist at the University of Reading, U.K., said in a statement: "Transfer of avian flu to people is rare as it requires direct contact between an infected, usually dead, bird and the individual concerned.

"It is a risk for the handlers who are charged with the disposal of carcasses after an outbreak but the virus does not spread generally and poses little threat. It does not behave like the seasonal flu we are used to."

Jones said: "Despite the current heightened concern around viruses there is no risk to chicken meat or eggs and no need for public alarm."

Mike Tildesley, professor in infectious disease modelling at the University of Warwick, U.K., said in a statement: "This is clearly going to be big news but the key thing is that human infections with H5N1 are really rare and they almost always occur as a result of direct, long term contact with poultry.

"There has never been any evidence of sustained human to human transmission of H5N1 so at present I wouldn't consider this to be a significant public health risk."

https://d.newsweek.com/en/full/1964116/testing-avian-flu.webp?w=790&f=d7d7919b7682bdb51c856af993cc3616
A stock image of birds being tested for avian flu. UK authorities have discovered a rare case of avian flu in a human.
MERRIMON/GETTY

[GeneChing]

Bird flu: 50 million birds die in record US outbreak (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-63785067)
Published
23 hours ago

https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/976/cpsprodpb/AE7E/production/_127807644_turkey.jpg.webp
IMAGE SOURCE, GETTY IMAGES
Bird flu deaths caused a rise in turkey prices ahead of the US Thanksgiving holiday

Over 50 million birds have died amid a record-breaking outbreak of avian flu in the United States, according to the Department of Agriculture (USDA).
This year's total of 50.54m birds - including chickens and turkeys - has surpassed a previous high set in 2015.
Flocks in over 40 states have been affected, more than double the number of states in the previous outbreak.
While the risk for humans is low, authorities have warned that safety measures should be taken near birds.
The disease is spread by wild birds which transmit the virus through feathers, faeces and direct contact.
"Wild birds continue to spread HPAI [highly pathogenic avian influenza] throughout the country as they migrate, so preventing contact between domestic flocks and wild birds is critical to protecting US poultry," Rosemary Sifford, the USDA's chief veterinary officer, was quoted as saying by Reuters.
Why is bird flu so bad this year?
In a 3 November announcement about the ongoing outbreak, the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said that while the risk to the general public remains low, it is advising Americans to take "preventative measures" - such as avoiding direct contact with wild birds and avoiding unprotected contact with poultry - to prevent spreading the disease to humans, pets, birds and other animals.
"This applies not just to workplace or wildlife settings, but potentially to household settings where people have backyard flocks or pet birds with potential exposures to wild or domestic infected birds," the statement added.
While cases of human infections are rare, the CDC's website warns that the virus could spread when airborne - such as via droplets or dust - if it gets into a person's eyes, nose or mouth, or is inhaled.
Symptoms of bird flu in humans have previously ranged from eye redness and mild flu-like symptoms, to pneumonia and difficulty breathing. World Health Organization (WHO) data shows that only 868 cases of transmission from birds to humans were recorded between 2003 and 3 November 2022, resulting in 456 deaths.
In the US, only one case - a Colorado resident who was directly exposed to poultry - has been reported in the recent outbreak. The person reported fatigue for a few days and recovered, the CDC said in April.
Poultry deaths stemming from avian flu led to rising prices for eggs and turkey ahead of last week's Thanksgiving holiday in the US. The American Farm Bureau, a US-based insurance company and lobbying group, said the price of a traditional Thanksgiving turkey had risen 21% over the last year and now stands at nearly $29 (£24.05) for a 16 pound (7.5kg) bird.
Record outbreaks of avian flu have also swept across the UK and Europe, as well as parts of Africa and Asia.
The World Organisation for Animal Health believes the wave of outbreaks is the result of international trade, farming practices and migratory wild birds. Over 4.6 million birds died or were culled between mid-October and mid-November alone, according to the organisation.
On 31 October, concerns over the outbreak prompted officials in England to order that all poultry and captive birds must be kept indoors from 7 November.
A similar measure went into effect on Monday in Northern Ireland, and is scheduled to be implemented in Wales on 2 December.
I didn't see this at all in the US news...

[GeneChing]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjQh5-SnZ8s

A new strain of highly pathogenic avian #influenza, #H5N1, is infecting wild #birds in the #SFBayArea in an outbreak that experts say is unprecedented in #California.

H5N1 causes neurological problems such as tremors and seizures, as seen in these videos. Those who see a bird acting strange, having tremors or looking weak and lethargic should call a local animal control or wildlife center.

Don’t touch injured or dead birds or let pets or children near them, and report dead birds to the Department of Fish and Wildlife. The department also recommends against feeding and giving water to wild birds, since the disease can spread when they’re closer together.

Credit: Erika Carlos, Stephen Lam
Read more: http://bit.ly/3hyBBDB

[GeneChing]

The avian flu is hammering U.S. poultry farmers, leaving experts to ask: What has changed? (https://www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/avian-bird-flu-egg-prices-rcna66273)
More than 40 million egg-laying hens have been culled in the U.S. alone, making it the worst outbreak on record.
https://media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com/image/upload/t_fit-1240w,f_auto,q_auto:best/rockcms/2023-01/230118-avian-flu-turkey-mjf-1126-e44546.jpg
A man checks his flock of white turkeys at his family's farm last year in Townsend, Del.Nathan Howard / Getty Images file

Jan. 18, 2023, 12:57 PM PST
By Denise Chow and Evan Bush
The worst outbreak of avian influenza on record is threatening to stretch into a second year, as the U.S. races to contain a virus that has already caused some food prices to soar amid a shortage of eggs.

Nearly 58 million birds from commercial and backyard flocks have been wiped out in the U.S. since last February, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.

Experts say the virus, known as Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza, or HPAI, has been difficult to contain because it appears to be more prevalent in wild birds now than during previous outbreaks — a development that also makes future infections more likely. And while the risk of the virus spilling over into humans remains low, scientists say communities will feel the consequences of such a serious and lengthy outbreak for months to come.

“As it is now, this is the largest animal emergency that the USDA has faced in this country,” said Gino Lorenzoni, an assistant professor of poultry science and avian health at Pennsylvania State University.

More than 40 million egg-laying hens have been culled in the U.S. alone, causing the price of eggs nationwide to skyrocket, Lorenzoni said. Months earlier, the “bird flu” outbreak drove the cost of turkey meat to record highs.

The virus can take commercial poultry farms out of commission for extended periods.

“They have to remove dead birds, disinfect their facility and bring new birds in — that’s a several-month process to do that,” said Kevin Snekvik, the executive director of the Washington Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory at Washington State University. “That’s when production of eggs is hammered.”

https://media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com/image/upload/t_fit-560w,f_auto,q_auto:best/rockcms/2023-01/230118-egg-cost-avian-flu-mjf-1109-68211d.jpg
Eggs on a shelf at Pioneer Supermarkets in Brooklyn, N.Y., on Thursday.Michael M. Santiago / Getty Images file
Efforts to prevent infections in commercial and backyard flocks are ongoing, but slowing the outbreak has been challenging because the virus seems to have gained a foothold in species of wild birds, said Biao He, a professor of infectious diseases at the University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine.

As these birds migrate, crisscrossing continents and oceans, they can carry the virus with them.

“That’s how the virus can go from Asia to Europe to North America — all the way around the world,” He said.

Poultry can become infected through direct exposure to wild birds but more likely from fecal matter that contaminates the ground around farms or yards.

Once that happens, entire flocks typically need to be culled.

“The virus transmits very, very rapidly within the flock, so even if birds don’t appear sick, they will eventually die very soon,” Lorenzoni said. “The best way to stop the spread of the disease is if we eliminate all the birds that are in close contact with the contaminated birds.”

https://media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com/image/upload/t_fit-560w,f_auto,q_auto:best/rockcms/2023-01/230118-avian-flu-rescue-mjf-1115-789ce4.jpg
Rescued chickens gather last year in an aviary at Farm Sanctuary’s Southern California Sanctuary in Acton, Calif.Mario Tama / Getty Images file
Monitoring and prevention of avian influenza has improved since the last major outbreak in 2015, Lorenzoni said, when roughly 50 million birds were killed over six months. The USDA’s “Defend the Flock Program” includes, for instance, information on biosecurity measures and how to spot signs of illness.

Still, the scale of the spread is putting strain on animal health laboratories. Suresh Kuchipudi, the interim director of the Animal Diagnostic Laboratory at Pennsylvania State University, said three animal testing laboratories in Pennsylvania are processing several thousand samples each week. His lab is largely operating seven days a week.

“The spread is much more complex than what we normally predict,” Kuchipudi said. “Nothing like this has happened in the past and the question is — what has changed?”

The virus’s prevalence in the wild presents new challenges for its containment. Many migrating birds are not sickened by bird flu, which means it’s not well understood just how widespread it is in the wild, Lorenzoni added.

Local weather conditions also influence how the virus spreads. The sun can, for instance, naturally disinfect surfaces while gloomier days help viral particles survive on surfaces contaminated by infected bird poop, Lorenzoni said.

And if the outbreak lingers into spring, infections could become even more difficult to prevent as a new wave of bird migrations begin.

There are also concerns that the virus could mutate as it continues to spread or infect other animals. Though experts have said the virus rarely infects humans, HPAI has been detected in mammals such as skunks, raccoons, harbor seals, red foxes and bears, according to the USDA.

If allowed to spread unfettered, the pathogen could evolve in such a way that makes it more devastating or harder to control.

“A virus is single-minded: It has to replicate, to reproduce,” He said. “With all those replications, it can accumulate a lot of different changes. This is happening as we speak, and this is why I’m afraid influenza is going to be with us for a long while.”

Denise Chow
Denise Chow is a reporter for NBC News Science focused on general science and climate change.

About that price of eggs...

[GeneChing]

...we are too.


Bird flu isn’t a direct threat to humans yet, experts say, but they’re keeping a close eye on the virus (https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/14/health/bird-flu-threat/index.html)
By Jen Christensen, CNN
Published 7:20 AM EST, Tue February 14, 2023

CNN
—
Avian flu has infected a record number of birds and some mammals across the United States, and scientists are keeping close watch.

World Health Organization Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Thursday that the risk to humans remains low but added, “we cannot assume that will remain the case.”

As with the coronavirus that causes Covid-19 that is believed to have started in animals before spreading to humans, some animal viruses can mutate, jump species to make humans sick and spread quickly around the world.

But highly pathogenic avian influenza is no Covid-19. Scientists are reassuring the public that, with a few rare exceptions, the virus hasn’t made the jump to humans at a large enough scale to trigger an outbreak.

It has gone far beyond birds, though, and its recent spread among members of a separate species has some experts concerned about the way the virus is changing.

What is bird flu?

Avian flu is a type A influenza virus that originated in birds. The version that’s predominantly causing problems in the Americas and Europe is called H5N1. There are several subtypes, and H5N1 bird flu viruses commonly in circulation now are genetically different from earlier versions of the virus, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Since late 2022, scientists have detected this virus in more than 100 species of wild birds like ducks, seagulls, geese, hawks and owls in the US.

Globally, this strain of the virus has actually been around a lot longer, said Richard Webby, an infectious disease researcher at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, and director of WHO’s Collaborating Centre for Studies on the Ecology of Influenza in Animals and Birds.

“We saw the sort of great-great-granddad of the virus in the late 1990s in Southeast Asia, and we’ve been following its evolution and change ever since,” Webby said.

By the 2000s, it had spread into parts of Europe and Africa and then got carried into the rest of the world through infected migratory birds. It came to the Americas more recently, Webby said.

The first infection with this version of the virus was reported in wild birds in the US in January 2022, according to the CDC. The next month, the US Department of Agriculture announced an outbreak among turkeys in a commercial facility.

Studies have shown that bird flu may spread to songbirds, but the ones that typically gather at feeders – such as cardinals, sparrows or blue jays – and those you may see on the street like pigeons or crows do not typically carry bird flu viruses that would be a threat to humans, according to the CDC.

Ducks and geese can carry the virus without appearing sick. Poultry isn’t always so lucky.

Highly pathogenic avian influenza carries “very high mortality rates” among chickens and turkeys. The disease can affect multiple internal organs, causing death in 90% to 100% of chickens within 48 hours of infection, according to the CDC.

Because it can spread rapidly, farmers usually have to cull uninfected birds along with infected ones to prevent a wider outbreak. It is considered one of the largest known threats to domestic birds.

As of Wednesday, 6,111 cases had been detected in wild birds in all 50 states, the USDA says. The virus has affected more than 58.3 million poultry birds in 47 states, according to the CDC.

The sheer volume of cases means that the virus has a better chance of spilling over into other species, experts say.

More animals getting sick

Bird flu spreads through things like feces and saliva. It can also spread through contact with a contaminated surface.

The virus has infected many mammals in the US, mostly in the West and Midwest, as part of the latest outbreak.

In Alaska, cases have been reported among bears and foxes, according to the USDA. The virus has also been found in a bobcat in California, a skunk in Colorado, a raccoon in Washington, possums in Illinois and Iowa, a mountain lion and grizzly bear in Nebraska, seals in Maine and even a bottlenose dolphin in Florida.

In total, 17 non-bird species have been infected in 20 states.

Scientists say that all of those sick mammals probably caught the virus when they ate or otherwise interacted with infected birds.

But in a concerning development last fall, the virus seemed to spread between mammals – perhaps for the first time – at a mink farm in Spain, according to a study published in the journal Eurosurveillance.

The mink got bloody noses, developed tremors, lost their appetite and seemed depressed, the scientists said, and had to be killed to keep the threat in check.

The virus did not spread to humans who worked at the mink farm, but what worried scientists were the multiple mutations found in the virus that made it distinct from sequences found in birds. One mutation made it better at replicating in mammals, although it’s not clear whether the mutation was in the virus before it got to the farm.

“But it’s when it starts to spread from one mammal to the next mammal to the next mammal, it’s in those environments where we think it’s most likely that it will pick up these changes that allow us to switch hosts, and that’s why we get concerned,” Webby said.

A handful of human cases

There have been less than 10 known avian flu cases in humans since December 2021, and none has come from human-to-human transmission, the CDC says.

The most recent US case was in a person in Colorado who got sick after culling infected birds in April. The person reported being tired for a few days. They were isolated and treated with an antiviral, according to the CDC.

The agency said at the time that the threat to public health remained low, but it urged people who had any kind of exposure to birds to take precautions.

“People who’ve typically become ill are one of those individuals who have very intense interactions with wildlife either alive or dead,” said Dr. W. Ian Lipkin, director of the Center for Infection and Immunity and the John Snow professor of epidemiology at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. “I wouldn’t say there’s another pandemic upon us, because it’s not. We’re not there.

“What we need to do right now is to watch very closely the way this spreads. We need to contain it in farms and wildlife as best we can,” he added.

How to stay safe

Although the threat to people is low, the CDC suggests avoiding direct contact with wild birds.

Webby says that if you need to handle a dead bird, such as removing it from a feeder, use gloves and a mask. Always wash your hands after touching birds or feeders.

It’s safe to eat poultry and eggs that are properly handled and cooked, the CDC said. Bird flu is not a foodborne illness, and the poultry industry is closely monitored and has strict health standards that include monitoring and controlling bird flu.

Always cook poultry and eggs to 165 degrees, a temperature that kills bacteria and viruses, including bird flu.

In the highly unlikely case that someone became sick, the CDC recommends getting treated right away. Most bird flu infections can be treated with currently available flu antiviral drugs, the agency says.

The US government also has a stockpile of vaccines, including against bird flu viruses, that could be used if this flu were ever to spread easily from person to person, the CDC says.

“The chances are not zero that you could get this, and anything you can do to further reduce that risk is a good thing,” Webby said. “But you probably really have to work hard to be infected with this virus.”

[GeneChing]

3 minute readFebruary 24, 20236:49 AM PSTLast Updated 2 days ago
Bird flu situation 'worrying'; WHO working with Cambodia (https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/bird-flu-situation-worrying-who-working-with-cambodia-2023-02-24/)
By Jennifer Rigby

https://www.reuters.com/resizer/KC-IGYrgv_vbX_2oVGF5TVEk_1o=/960x0/filters:quality(80)/cloudfront-us-east-2.images.arcpublishing.com/reuters/YI263UTOSFJN3DGZCLA4XRVM4U.jpg
[1/2] A test tube labelled "Bird Flu" and eggs are seen in this picture illustration, January 14, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

LONDON, Feb 24 (Reuters) - The World Health Organization is working with Cambodian authorities after two confirmed human cases of H5N1 bird flu were found among one family in the country.

Describing the situation as "worrying" due to the recent rise in cases in birds and mammals, Dr Sylvie Briand, the director of epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention, told reporters in a virtual briefing that WHO was reviewing its global risk assessment in light of the recent developments.

The U.N. health agency last assessed the risk to humans from avian flu as low earlier this month.

Cambodian authorities on Thursday reported the death of an 11-year old girl due to H5N1, and began testing 12 of her contacts. Her father, who had been showing symptoms, has also tested positive for the virus.

"The global H5N1 situation is worrying given the wide spread of the virus in birds around the world and the increasing reports of cases in mammals including humans," Briand said. "WHO takes the risk from this virus seriously and urges heightened vigilance from all countries."

Briand said it was not yet clear whether there had been any human-to-human transmission, which was a key reason to focus on the cases in Cambodia, or if the two cases were due to the "same environmental conditions," likely close contact with infected birds or other animals.

A new strain of H5N1, clade 2.3.4.4b, emerged in 2020 and has been causing record numbers of deaths among wild birds and domestic poultry in recent months. It has also infected mammals, raising global concerns.

However, unlike earlier outbreaks of H5N1, which has been around for more than two decades, this subtype is not causing significant illness in people. So far, only about a half dozen cases have been reported to the WHO in people who had close contact with infected birds, and most of those have been mild. Experts have suggested that the virus might need to change in order for human transmission to occur.

However, WHO said it was stepping up preparedness efforts regardless, and noted that there were antivirals available, as well as 20 licensed pandemic vaccines if the situation changes, although they would have to be updated to more closely match the circulating strain of H5N1 if needed.

That could take four to five months, said Richard Webby, director of the WHO Collaborating Center for Studies on the Ecology of Influenza in Animals and Birds at St. Jude Children's Hospital. However, some stockpiled vaccines would be available in the meantime.

WHO-affiliated labs already hold two flu virus strains that are closely related to the circulating H5N1 virus, which manufacturers can use to develop new shots if needed. A global meeting of flu experts this week suggested developing another strain that more closely matches H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b, Webby told the briefing.


Reporting by Jennifer Rigby; editing by Jon Boyle, Jason Neely and Tomasz Janowski concerning...

[GeneChing]

MAR 8, 2023 7:00 AM
It’s Time for a Flu Vaccine—for Birds (https://www.wired.com/story/its-time-for-a-flu-vaccine-for-birds/)
Avian influenza has killed millions of birds. Shots to prevent it already exist. Why isn’t the entire poultry industry using them?
https://media.wired.com/photos/6407abed5ab66aa61409935f/1:1/w_1000,c_limit/birdflu_science_GettyImages-1246532352.jpg

THE WAVE OF avian influenza H5N1—which so far has hit 76 countries, triggered national emergencies, and created the worst animal-disease outbreak in US history—keeps roaring through wild birds and commercial poultry. More than 140 million poultry worldwide have died from the virus or were slaughtered to keep it from spreading, according to the World Organization for Animal Health. And though they are harder to count, the die-offs among wild birds have been catastrophic.

Something has to put the brakes on. In the US, where losses are close to 60 million, industry experts are talking quietly about taking a step they have long resisted: vaccinating commercial chickens, laying hens, turkeys, and ducks against the flu.

That doesn’t sound controversial; after all, flu shots for humans are routine, and chickens already receive a handful of vaccinations in the first days of their lives. But only a few countries routinely vaccinate poultry against avian influenza. Introducing a vaccine could trigger trade bans that would crush the enormous US export market, turn sectors of the poultry trade against each other, and possibly provoke consumer uneasiness about food safety.

Officially, therefore, the industry opposes what would be a drastic step. But privately—none would speak on the record—scientists at poultry companies say they see no other exit strategy. And researchers who work alongside the US industry say there may be little choice but to begin vaccination—but also that the US cannot embark on vaccination alone.

“Vaccination is being discussed on a global scale, because it would be a global decision,” says Karen Burns Grogan, a veterinarian and clinical associate professor at the University of Georgia’s Poultry Diagnostic and Research Center. (Georgia produces more broilers, or meat chickens, than any other state, about 1.3 billion per year.) “Everyone from the World Organization for Animal Health, to the US federal government, to trading partners, would have to come to a decision.”

But that decision is by no means guaranteed. Limited stocks of avian vaccines against H5N1 flu were commissioned by the federal government after a huge outbreak in 2015, but they may not curb the currently circulating strain. The US Department of Agriculture has not authorized their use. And expanding the supply enough to protect billions of birds would require a massive manufacturing effort—as well as a significant labor force, because those shots would likely be given by hand.

The discussion is becoming urgent. H5N1 flu keeps infecting humans—most recently, it killed an 11-year-old girl in Cambodia and sickened her father, though the strain they contracted was different from the one currently ripping through birds, and there was no indication the disease spread from them to others. It is rapidly adapting to mammals, most recently killing sea lions off the coast of Peru and minks being farmed in Spain.

H5N1 flu is also killing an uncountable but presumably vast number of wild birds, a change from its historic pattern in which wild birds carried the virus but were not sickened by it. “The impact on wild bird populations is unprecedented,” says Peter Marra, an ornithologist and director of the Earth Commons Institute at Georgetown University. “Massive numbers of gannets and other species have vanished. And this is not just in the US, it’s in the entire Western Hemisphere, throughout Europe, and we assume in Africa.”

And outbreaks in poultry are increasing, even though the industry has tried to harden its biosecurity practices. Those outbreaks represent enormous animal suffering: The fast-moving disease is so gruesome that a prominent expert once called it “chicken Ebola.” Plus, a subset of American veterinarians claims a common method of culling chickens to prevent disease spread—turning off ventilation so that birds die of heat stroke—is cruel. Then, there’s the impact on the food supply: Flock losses just among laying hens last year cut the availability of eggs by 29 percent while doubling prices.

The devastation among those hens hints at complexities that make vaccination challenging. Every type of commercial poultry is allowed to live to a different age depending on its purpose: Broilers grow to full size in six to seven weeks, turkeys take about six months to get to market weight, and layers and broiler breeders (meat chickens’ parents) are allowed to live a year or more, because hens can’t produce eggs until they’re about 26 weeks old. It’s odd but notable that the longer-lived varieties, layers and turkeys, seem to account for more of the losses from flu. (That may partly be an artifact of layer farms housing such huge numbers of animals—millions per property—that the arrival of the virus takes out many more birds.) So it makes sense that egg and turkey operations would benefit the most from vaccines.

But eggs and turkeys don’t account for most of the US international trade in poultry. Broilers do: meat, and also spare bits such as feet that Americans don’t care to consume. Broiler meat exports earned more than $5 billion in 2021, according to the USDA. Meanwhile, multiple countries that buy US chicken have long refused to accept meat from vaccinated broilers, arguing that the immune response to vaccination and flu infection is so similar that safe birds cannot be distinguished from carriers. In other words, the US poultry sector that least needs a vaccine would have the most to risk, economically, from using one.

The intensity of H5N1’s onslaught around the world may be changing that calculus. Last fall an international meeting in Paris explored “removing unnecessary barriers” to avian flu vaccine use. In November, the European Union issued new regulations permitting poultry vaccination under certain conditions; they go into effect this month. Since the beginning of the year, countries in Central and South America, where H5N1 just arrived, have announced they will begin vaccinating poultry.

And late in 2021, the USDA authorized a five-year research project intended to search for new vaccines against avian flu, determine how to prove that they work, and map whether the use of such shots drives the flu virus toward mutations that vaccines would not protect against.

A segment of the flu research community has argued for years that there’s a clear way to distinguish vaccinated birds from infected ones. The strategy, called DIVA (for “differentiating infected from vaccinated animals”), creates a molecular marker by swapping out one protein in whatever circulating strain is used to make the vaccine. When vaccinated chickens are tested, they display antibodies to that substitute strain instead of the wild type, demonstrating that their immunity comes from the vaccine and thus that they are safe to trade. The strategy was twice used in Italy, in 2000 and 2001, to shut down poultry outbreaks caused by flu strains H7N1 and H7N3.

“Other countries always said that the costs attached to vaccination—because of the vaccine itself, but also because of the testing and the potential restrictions on movement—weren't worthwhile,” says Ilaria Capua, a virologist and senior fellow for global health at Johns Hopkins SAIS Europe in Bologna, who proposed the system’s use in Italy while at the Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale delle Venezie. “But the trade barriers can be nullified if you apply a system that tells you that a flock is vaccinated and has not been exposed to the virus.”

Use of the DIVA system lapsed in Italy because that multiyear wave of H7 strains faded (though not before killing a Dutch veterinarian), and because other countries that were thought to be at risk at the time didn’t have the national budgets or lab capacity to create something similar. The context is different now, given how H5N1 flu has spread worldwide. The number of poultry and wild bird species it has been able to attack isn’t only a measure of the destruction it is wreaking—it’s also a signal that the virus is finding many more hosts in which it can mutate toward more virulent forms.

Experts say recognizing that reality makes poultry vaccination more urgent. It’s always been known that flu spreads from wild birds to domesticated ones, on ponds or in droppings or via small birds that can squeeze past fan covers. But it’s also possible that flu spreads to wild birds in those moments. And while the logistics of vaccinating birds in the wild are unfathomable, vaccinating the ones close to home is within our grasp.

All I know is that I haven't had any eggs in months...

[GeneChing]

China’s ‘best defence’ is poultry vaccine as bird flu spreads from Europe, Africa (https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3241483/chinas-best-defence-poultry-vaccine-bird-flu-spreads-europe-africa)
International research team led by University of Hong Kong finds epicentre for deadly H5N1 virus has shifted, carried across the world by wild birds
With infections recorded across 5 continents, including Antarctica, penguins and marine and land-based mammals are ‘at risk’
Holly Chik

Published: 4:00pm, 19 Nov, 2023

https://cdn.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/styles/1200x800/public/d8/images/canvas/2023/11/14/dadfb3c3-3526-4f46-bb7d-bca02d8b8a76_28820fa6.jpg?itok=RGRvOXd9&v=1699947913

The deadly virus behind bird flu has become better adapted to wild birds and is shifting from China to Europe and northern Africa, in what a study led by the University of Hong Kong (HKU) has called “an environmental disaster”.

The team, which included researchers in Australia, Egypt, France, the United Arab Emirates and the United States, found that recent outbreaks suggested the epicentre for the H5N1 virus had extended beyond Asia.

In a paper published by the peer-reviewed journal Nature, the researchers said the virus had also become more persistent in wild bird populations, driving the evolution and spread of new strains, putting marine and land mammals at risk across the world.

“Since November 2021, this H5N1 virus has caused unprecedented outbreaks in diverse wild bird species across five continents and a significant rise in incidental infections in wild carnivores, mink farms and marine mammals,” they said.

Lead author Vijaykrishna Dhanasekaran, who heads the HKU pathogen evolution lab, urged China to guard against strains of the virus arriving from Europe by keeping up its vaccination programme against bird flu infections among the country’s flocks.

“Especially since the emergence of H7N9 in 2013 … the control in China has become really good with mass application of H5 and H7 vaccines. That is one of the reasons the recent resurgence was not in China,” he said.

“They need to sustain it because now the viruses are coming back from Europe. [China should] continue the vaccination system so that we can keep eliminating the virus.”

H5N1 first emerged in China in 1996 and was the first virus to establish sustained transmission in domestic poultry. After years of being largely confined to Asian poultry networks, recent outbreaks have emerged further afield.

On the rare occasions the virus appeared in Europe and Africa, it was carried there by wild birds but would die out after a few months because H5N1 was not as adaptive to wild populations.

“However, in the past two years we have seen extensive outbreaks – they’re doubling,” said Dhanasekaran, who is also an associate professor with the HKU school of public health.

“It’s an environmental disaster in terms of the number of wild birds that have been infected. The virus is also spreading to new regions via these migratory flyways.”

In September, three adult harbour seals in Puget Sound, on the northwestern coast of Washington state, tested positive for the H5N1 virus, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

It was the first time the highly pathogenic bird flu was reported in marine mammals on the US West Coast.

Last month, concerns were raised that penguins and other local species could be at risk after H5N1 was detected in the Antarctic region for the first time.

The virus was probably carried to Antarctica by migratory birds returning from South America, where there has been a high number of bird flu cases, according to the British Antarctic Survey.

Dhanasekaran said the H7 and H9 virus groups mainly infected chickens, while the biggest difficulty in controlling the H5 viruses was that they affected aquatic and terrestrial poultry differently.

“When [H5] is infecting … poultry, it can kill chickens but it does not kill ducks. It is naturally adapted to ducks so when it is circulating in the live bird markets, we can never be sure until it infects chickens and they start dying,” he said.

The paper warned that the scale of H5 outbreaks in wild birds had been escalating beyond Asia since 2014. The researchers said recent incidences in African and European bird populations suggested the epicentre had also extended beyond the Asian region.

“It is necessary to enhance global surveillance and improve multifaceted mitigation strategies for outbreak prevention and response,” the scientists said.

The World Health Organization recorded 1,566 cases of human infection and at least 613 deaths from the H7N9 virus between 2013 and 2018. China remained the epicentre of the virus until 2016.

A 2021 study by the State Key Laboratory of Veterinary Biotechnology in Harbin, northern China, identified five waves of human infection caused by the H7N9 bird flu virus, and confirmed that it caused only mild infections in ducks while being highly lethal to chickens.

The Harbin researchers noted that “further human cases have been successfully prevented since September 2017 through the use of an H7N9 vaccine in poultry” but the virus had not been eradicated from poultry.

They found that the H7N9 viruses isolated in 2019 were antigenically different from the vaccine strain used to control the virus in poultry. “Replication of these viruses cannot therefore be completely prevented in vaccinated chickens.”

Meanwhile in Britain, scientists proposed gene editing as a possible way to breed chickens that are partially resistant to bird flu, in a paper published by the peer-reviewed journal Nature Communications in October.

The team said it was able to restrict the virus from infecting chickens by altering a small section of their DNA. The researchers found fully grown chickens were resistant to a very low dose of the flu from infected birds, but not at doses 1,000 times higher.

Co-author Mike McGrew, personal chair of avian reproductive technologies at the University of Edinburgh’s Roslin Institute, said gene editing “promises a new way to make permanent changes in the disease resistance of an animal”.

“This can be passed down through all the gene-edited animals to all the offspring so it would protect the poultry and reduce risk to the poultry farmers and wild birds,” he said.

Wendy Barclay, head of the department of infectious diseases at Imperial College London and the study’s other author, said her group discovered a gene called ANP32 which was “absolutely essential” to supporting the virus when it was inside the cell.

“If you could prevent the protein from being used [to help viruses replicate] by gene editing, the virus would not be able to replicate. This strategy could be used not just for H5N1 bird flu, but for any of the strains, because it is fundamental to the way that the virus works,” she said.

The British scientists monitored the gene-edited birds for more than two years and said they showed no adverse effects on health or egg-laying productivity.

They cautioned that further study would be needed to ensure animal health, and that multiple edits of the gene family might be needed to eliminate the possibility of viral evolution.
Not to lessen the magnitude of this crisis, but the author's name is Chik?

[GeneChing]

Oh man, this is our backyard. :eek:


Bird Flu Continues to Batter Sonoma County Poultry Industry Amid Big New Outbreak This Week (https://www.kqed.org/news/11970666/bird-flu-continues-to-batter-sonoma-county-poultry-industry-amid-large-new-outbreak-this-week#:~:text=More%20cases%20of%20avian%20flu,this% 20area%20late%20last%20month.)
Juan Carlos LaraRiley Palmer
Dec 21
https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/GettyImages-1408473939-1020x680.jpg
Thousands of chickens gather and lay eggs in an organic hen house at Sunrise Farms in Petaluma on Aug. 25, 2010. (Paul Chinn/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)

More cases of avian flu were detected this week at three additional Sonoma County poultry operations near Petaluma, including one that houses nearly half a million birds, hitting the largest facility since the disease began ripping through this area late last month.

That brings the total number of sites here to seven, prompting the euthanization of more than 1 million birds, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which tracks the outbreaks.

Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza is typically spread from wild birds to farm-raised flocks through direct or indirect contact. The virus is often deadly to birds but is rarely transmitted to humans.

Bill Mattos, president of the California Poultry Federation, said the ongoing winter migration of wild birds has contributed to the transmission of the virus.

“I haven’t really got any reports from the state veterinarian other than the fact that they had hoped, like us, this wouldn’t have been so severe already,” Mattos said. “We’re just starting the winter months. It isn’t even halfway through.”

Sonoma County Supervisor David Rabbitt, who represents the district where all seven affected farms are located, said these outbreaks are financially and emotionally devastating to farmers who have to kill off and dispose of their entire flocks whenever the disease is detected.

“It’s just tragic. No other way to put it. I mean, the consequences of one infection … you lose your entire flock,” said Rabbitt, who confirmed that Sunrise Farms owns the site of the biggest outbreak.

Adding to the financial burden, he said, farmers at affected sites must also wait 120 days or pay for environmental testing before repopulating their flocks.

“The biggest concern of the producers is losing their customers, losing their clients, the markets,” Rabbitt said. “Because the markets are gonna have eggs on the shelves, and if they don’t get them from the producers right around Petaluma, they’re gonna get them from someone else.”

Rabbitt said the county has some resources to help struggling farmers but not nearly enough to cover the sizable damage already inflicted on the county’s $50 million poultry industry.
Sponsored

He added that two of the largest feed distributors in this rural area about 40 miles north of San Francisco have also lost roughly 60% of their business now that so many farms have been emptied and the demand for feed has plummeted.

The avian flu has been reported among farm-raised flocks at five other counties throughout the state in recent months, but only Merced County has seen a higher number of affected birds. Last week, farmers in a single facility in that county had to euthanize more than 1.3 million birds after the virus was detected.

Agriculture officials are also investigating a suspected outbreak at another Central Valley facility that houses more than 1 million egg-laying birds, according to Mattos of the California Poultry Federation.

“It’s a lot of birds, it’s terrible,” he said.

[GeneChing]

https://www.texasagriculture.gov/portals/0/images/NEWSROOM638454384014721405.jpg?ver=zxG4JwcNYPPB-VxPEoi7SQ%3d%3d
COMMISSIONER MILLER SAYS MYSTERY DAIRY COW DISEASE HAS BEEN IDENTIFIED (3/25/2024) (https://www.texasagriculture.gov/News-Events/Article/9950/COMMISSIONER-MILLER-SAYS-MYSTERY-DAIRY-COW-DISEASE-HAS-BEEN-IDENTIFIED?fbclid=IwAR3TxxYY05sMjA1qgd6f68K4qEAQUB u_Xz6CwBImtPIAXny9o5tKQMdpBNE)

Confirmation of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza in the Texas Panhandle

AUSTIN – A mysterious disease has been working its way through the Texas Panhandle, puzzling the agriculture industry. Today, Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller received confirmation from the United States Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack, and the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) that the mystery disease has been identified as a strain of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) commonly known as Bird Flu. To date, three dairies in Texas and one in Kansas have tested positive for HPAI. The Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) is vigilantly monitoring this outbreak.

“This presents yet another hurdle for our agriculture sector in the Texas Panhandle,” Commissioner Miller emphasized. “Protecting Texas producers and the safety of our food supply chain is my top priority. The Texas Department of Agriculture will use every resource available to maintain the high standards of quality and safety that define Texas agriculture.”

The Texas dairy industry contributes roughly $50 billion in economic activity across the state. Texas also ranks fourth in milk production nationwide and continues to be a key player in the dairy industry.

Commissioner Miller wants to assure consumers that rigorous safety measures and pasteurization protocols ensure that dairy products remain unaffected by HPAI. The Texas dairy industry maintains strict standards to ensure the safety of every product.

“There is no threat to the public and there will be no supply shortages,” assured Commissioner Miller. “No contaminated milk is known to have entered the food chain; it has all been dumped. In the rare event that some affected milk enters the food chain, the pasteurization process will kill the virus.”

Cattle impacted by HPAI exhibit flu-like symptoms including fever and thick and discolored milk accompanied by a sharp reduction in milk production averaging between 10-30 pounds per cow throughout the herd. Economic impacts to facilities are ongoing as herds that are greatly impacted may lose up to 40% of their milk production for 7 to 10 days until symptoms subside. It is vital that dairy facilities nationwide practice heightened biosecurity measures to mitigate further spread.

Texas dairies are strongly advised to use all standard biosecurity measures including restricting access to essential personnel only, disinfecting all vehicles entering and leaving premises, isolating affected cattle, and destroying all contaminated milk. Additionally, it is important to clean and disinfect all livestock watering devices and isolate drinking water where it might be contaminated by waterfowl. Farmers are asked to notify their herd veterinarian if they suspect any cattle within their herd are displaying symptoms of this condition.

“Unlike affected poultry, I foresee there will be no need to depopulate dairy herds,” Miller said. “Cattle are expected to fully recover. The Texas Department of Agriculture is committed to providing unwavering support to our dairy industry.” 'thick and discolored milk' churns my tummy...:(

[GeneChing]

For the first time, U.S. dairy cows have tested positive for bird flu (https://www.wpr.org/news/for-the-first-time-u-s-dairy-cows-have-tested-positive-for-bird-flu#:~:text=There%20is%20virtually%20no%20impact,b e%20processed%20for%20human%20consumption.)
BY JOE HERNANDEZ
APRIL 1, 2024
https://www.wpr.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/ap24085768727367-98d564ad70bcc22051aeb50e5760e946ef8ae1af-scaled.jpg
Dairy cattle feed at a farm on March 31, 2017, near Vado, N.M. The U.S. Department of Agriculture says cows in multiple states have tested positive for bird flu.
Livestock at multiple dairy farms across the U.S. have tested positive for bird flu — also known as highly pathogenic avian influenza, or HPAI — in an outbreak that’s likely spread to at least five states.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service confirmed Friday that cows in Texas, Kansas and Michigan had been sickened by the virus, and there were presumptive positive test results for additional herds in New Mexico and Idaho.
It’s the first time the disease has been found in dairy cattle, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association.

The cases come just days after a group of young goats contracted bird flu on a Minnesota farm.
Bird flu
Government officials say the risk to the public amid the current outbreak remains low. Most past human infections have occurred after people had “unprotected exposures to sick or dead infected poultry,” according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And officials say the strain of the virus detected in Michigan is similar to the one found in Texas and Kansas, which was shown through initial testing not to include any changes that would make it more transmissible to humans.
The rash of bird flu infections should also not dramatically impact consumers of dairy products, federal and state officials say.
“Understanding the details surrounding the transfer of avian virus to livestock is the top priority of animal health professionals and agriculture agencies,” Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller said in a statement. “While troubling, this outbreak is not currently expected to threaten our nation’s commercial dairy supply.”
There is virtually no impact on consumers so far
The country’s commercial dairy supply is safe and a milk recall is unnecessary, the USDA says.
That’s because dairies are required to divert or destroy any milk from impacted livestock, and only milk from healthy cows can be processed for human consumption.
Additionally, pasteurization — which is required for milk entering interstate commerce — kills bacteria and viruses, including influenza.
The Food and Drug Administration says there is limited information available about the transmission of bird flu in raw, unpasteurized milk. The agency has long warned people to avoid raw milk, which it says can harbor dangerous bacteria and sicken consumers.
Federal officials say the loss of milk from ill dairy cows is too limited to significantly impact the commercial supply, which is typically higher in the spring due to increased seasonal production. Dairy prices are not expected to rise due to the outbreak, they added.
How regulators and farmers are working to contain the spread
The USDA believes the dairy cows have been sickened by a strain called H5N1, Eurasian lineage goose/Guangdong clade 2.3.4.4b, which was likely introduced by wild birds. Pigeons, blackbirds and grackles were identified at the affected Texas farms.
But federal officials are also not ruling out the possibility of cow-to-cow transmission. That’s after a Michigan farm recently received a shipment of cattle from an affected Texas farm before any of the cows show signs of disease, the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development said Friday.
Cows sickened by bird flu at affected dairy farms have recovered “after isolation with little to no associated mortality reported,” according to the USDA.
Federal and state agencies are continuing to test sick livestock and unpasteurized milk samples.
The USDA also recommends that farmers and their veterinarians practice “good biosecurity,” which includes limiting animal movements, testing livestock before they’re moved and isolating sick cows.
Shouldn't it be cow flu now?

[GeneChing]

...but this is the other shoe (hoof?) drop that I've been anticipating. :(


First human case of bird flu in Texas detected after contact with infected dairy cattle (https://www.texastribune.org/2024/04/01/texas-cows-bird-flu-human-infection/)

The person had contact with infected cattle, state health officials said. It's the second recorded human case in the U.S.
BY NEELAM BOHRA
APRIL 1, 2024
UPDATED: 21 HOURS AGO
https://thumbnails.texastribune.org/BLxpv7Ia15DpBfUVMPPCo87wC_M=/850x570/smart/filters:format(webp):quality(75)/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/4b25469bb109b715051f54458791074f/0303%20Panhandle%20Canadian%20JR%20TT%2025.jpg
Cattle stand in the burn scar from the Smokehouse Creek fire on March. 3, 2024 Credit: Justin Rex for The Texas Tribune
Sign up for The Brief, The Texas Tribune’s daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.

A person in Texas became ill with bird flu after contact with infected dairy cattle, state officials reported Monday.

It’s the first human case of the highly pathogenic strain of avian influenza in Texas, and it’s the second recorded in the U.S., according to the health alert state officials issued.

“The risk to the general public is believed to be low; however, people with close contact with affected animals suspected of having avian influenza A(H5N1) have a higher risk of infection,” the alert said.

The patient’s primary symptom was conjunctivitis, or eye redness, according to the alert.

State officials recommend that clinicians should “consider the possibility” of infection in people who have symptoms and a potential risk for exposure, including those who have had close contact with someone infected, contact with affected animals, or contact with unpasteurized milk from dairy farms with infections.

Symptoms can include a fever, cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, headaches, fatigue, eye redness, shortness of breath, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, or seizures. The illness can range from mild to severe, and health care providers who come across someone who may have the virus should “immediately consult their local health department,” according to the alert.

Because eye redness has been observed in these infections before, health care providers like optometrists and ophthalmologists “should be aware of the potential of individuals presenting with conjunctivitis who have had exposure to affected animals,” according to the alert.

The strain, novel avian influenza A(H5N1), started infecting dairy cattle in the Panhandle last week, in another blow to the Texas cattle industry after thousands were lost in historic Texas wildfires. Similar outbreaks were reported at dairies in Kansas and New Mexico.

Lauren Ancel Meyers, professor and director of the Center for Pandemic Decision Science at the University of Texas at Austin, said there is a lot of uncertainty at this point.

"On the positive side, it seems like this was a very mild case and it's the only case that's been identified so far," Meyers said. "But at the same time, it seems like there's quite a bit of this virus that has been detected in cattle populations. Anytime a virus jumps into a new species, especially a rapidly evolving virus like influenza — we need to be approaching it with the utmost caution and vigilance to make sure we really understand the situation."

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said there is no safety concern to the commercial milk supply. Consumer health is also not at risk, the department said. The milk from impacted animals is being dumped or destroyed and will not enter the food supply.

Neelam Bohra is a 2023-24 New York Times disability reporting fellow, based at The Texas Tribune through a partnership with The New York Times and the National Center on Disability and Journalism, which is based at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University.