Bird flu

I'm getting quite a few stories about Bird flu spreading to humans and the possibility of a Bird flu pandemic coming up in my news feed.
This is one of the latest;
Bird flu found in dead seals on UK beach as public urged to stay away from animal corpses

Bird flu found in dead seals on UK beach as public urged to stay away from animal corpses (msn.com)

 

It's been absolutely devastating for wildlife, I only hope it doesn't jump to humans in a form that's easily transmissible.

 

I really hope that in 6 months, a year, we aren't all talking about bird flu that has spread to humans. There have been some cases of animal-to-human transmission, which, although few, is very worrying. I hope a bird flu vaccine is in progress.

It's not only a vaccine we need for a possible pandemic. To ward it off, we need to reform factory farming and make sure wild animals have their habitats, unmolested by humans.

 

amen

 

Agreed. And in the UK the game bird industry sure1y needs to be reduced and face much stricter regu1ation (not sure what the situation is in other countries).

https://www.birdguides.com/articles...mprise-half-of-wild-avian-biomass-in-britain/

 

USDA Confirms Cow-to-Cow Transmission a Factor in Avian Flu Spread

"The U.S. Department of Agriculture said this week that cow-to-cow transmission is a factor in the spread of avian flu in dairy herds, but it still does not know exactly how the virus is being moved around.

Farmers and veterinarians have been waiting for confirmation on how the virus is transmitted to better control its spread. Dairy herds in eight states tested positive over the past month, along with one dairy worker in Texas.

"Those of us that have worked with influenza for a long time were fairly quickly saying, 'Yep it moves cow to cow,'" Jim Lowe, an associate dean at the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine, said on Friday. "You can't explain the epidemiology any other way.""

https://www.agweb.com/news/livestoc...-cow-cow-transmission-factor-avian-flu-spread

 

I keep seeing more and more articles on bird flu spreading in the U.S. We've had 36 human cases since April 2024, and, according to this Salon article, half of the human cases were reported in the past 2 weeks. Bird flu has also been infecting many species of wildlife.

The article describes how now there's been a confirmed case of a pig contracting bird flu, which is worrisome since pigs can harbor both human flu and bird flu, making possible a new strain that could be more likely to infect humans.

The number of bird flu cases could be under counted and under reported. It seems that a lot of the cases are from factory farms. I would think there would be an urgent effort to test farm workers and animals at the very least, but that's a political hot potato. Many factory farm workers in the U.S. are undocumented, and they might not have access to health care or sick days. Also, these factory farm businesses would probably not want it publicized that their businesses have animals with bird flu.

Unless federal health inspectors are invited in, states have no obligation to let them test factory farms and animals unless a federal emergency were declared. It seems to me we could be sleepwalking into another dangerous pandemic. I don't think there have been any confirmed cases of human-to-human transmission so far, but it becomes more likely if the virus keeps mutating and spreading throughout the animal kingdom.

Here's the Salon article, with 3 related articles listed at the end.

https://www.salon.com/2024/11/01/bi...uman-cases-double-in-two-weeks/?in_brief=true

 

Given transmission to humans , and fatality rates perhaps worth bumping this thread.
Seems woefully monitored .

https://www.cdc.gov/bird-flu/situation-summary/index.html


Wastewater monitoring showing increased prevalence in California.

This is airborne, food borne and droplet spread

Finland started vaccination programme earlier this year
Australia is looking to roll out vaccinations ( from news)

 

Some black humour .
https://twitter.com/user/status/1856424793488113871

 

There's a teenager in hospital in British Columbia with H5N1. No connection with cattle farms -

https://twitter.com/user/status/1857651629279031675


This link says the mutation necessary for h2h transmission has been sequenced in this case. I've seen posts from people who know the hospital, saying no precautions are being taken regarding airborne transmission.

There have been a number of human cases in workers on large cattle farms in several US states, since early summer (I think). High prevalence and mortality in the cattle. Also numerous deaths of cats on the farms.

Sorry, not up to hunting down links.

 

Unfortunately, pretty much guaranteed to be the strategy from day 1. If the death rate ends up being too high, the data will simply be suppressed. And once it's indisputable, it will be too late to stop. People will simply have to take all precautions for themselves.

The day this strategy became adopted for COVID was the day it was inevitable that it would apply for the next one. It happened so smoothly and not just without pushback, but you pretty much only see pushback about not doing it again this way.

 

Some more on the sequencing of the BC case -

https://bsky.app/profile/chrischirp.bsky.social/post/3lb3r734sns2a

https://bsky.app/profile/chrischirp.bsky.social/post/3lb3zyke4ys2h

https://twitter.com/user/status/1857855159185060096

 

Another strain of bird flu confirmed in UK - as mass cull ordered

Another strain of bird flu confirmed in UK - as mass cull ordered

 

On the spread in farms in the USA -

https://twitter.com/user/status/1858501977572864298


The genotype in the BC case different from the one in US dairy farms -

https://twitter.com/user/status/1858501969163272547

 

This article from a South African virologist is about America's slow reaction to bird flu.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/19/opinion/bird-flu-disease-outbreak.html

 

In today's New York Times, there's a bird flu article, which mentions a theory of how the 1918 pandemic came about and what the Biden administration could do in these remaining weeks of his administration.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/29/opinion/bird-flu-pandemic.html

 

In case one runs into a paywall (which I did) here's the gifted link:

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/29/...e_code=1.dk4.ivXv.UNKwV2W5d_hJ&smid=url-share

 

Five million doses of bird flu vaccine bought by UK to prepare for pandemic

Five million doses of bird flu vaccine bought by UK to prepare for pandemic

 

It was just announced that the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) will start requiring bird flu testing in the milk supply. Although it should have been required months ago, it's still good news.

https://www.reuters.com/business/he...ting-bird-flu-testing-milk-supply-2024-12-06/

 

Bird flu could be spreading to horses undetected, study finds

Bird flu could be spreading to horses undetected, study finds