Bird flu

Health officials say Louisiana patient is first severe bird flu case in US
A person in Louisiana has the first severe illness caused by bird flu in the U.S., health officials said Wednesday.

The patient had been in contact with sick and dead birds in backyard flocks, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. Agency officials didn't immediately detail the person's symptoms.

Previous illnesses in the U.S. had been mild and the vast majority had been among farmworkers exposed to sick poultry or dairy cows.

This year, more than 60 bird flu infections have been reported, more than half of them in California. In two — an adult in Missouri and a child in California — health officials have not determined how they caught it.

The CDC confirmed the Louisiana infection on Friday, but did not announce it until Wednesday. It’s also the first U.S. human case linked to exposure to a backyard flock.
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Health officials say Louisiana patient is first severe bird flu case in US
 
Twenty big cats die of bird flu at sanctuary in Washington state
Twenty big cats, including a Bengal tiger, four cougars, a lynx and four bobcats, have died after contracting bird flu at an animal sanctuary in Shelton, Washington.

The big cat deaths come as bird flu, a highly pathogenic avian influenza, has spread rapidly through poultry flocks and dairy herds in the US, infected and killed domestic cats, and caused a severe illness in a person in Louisiana.
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Twenty big cats die of bird flu at sanctuary in Washington state
 
Here in California, I think people are advised not to have bird feeders anymore.

I donated some egg yolks recently to a bird rescue group and thought: these folks are really brave to be working with wild birds here.
 
Bird flu 'may be mutating to become more transmissible to humans'
Bird flu could be mutating to become more transmissible to humans, scientists have warned, as the US reported its first severe case that left one woman hospitalised.

So far 65 confirmed human cases of H5N1 infection have been reported in 2024, following a widespread outbreak across bird and cattle farms in the United States.

A teenager in British Columbia, Canada, has also reportedly suffered severe symptoms and is being treated in hospital.

Experts believe the figure may be higher with instances going undetected among dairy and poultry workers.

In the latest case, a woman from Louisiana suffered severe respiratory symptoms and was in 'critical condition' after coming into contact with sick and dead birds, The Telegraph reports.

It is understood that she is older than 65 and had underlying health conditions, officials said earlier this month.

An analysis posted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on its website found a small percentage of the virus detected in the patient's throat had genetic changes that may lead to 'increased virus binding' to specific 'cell receptors found in the upper respiratory tract of humans.'

These changes have not been found in birds, including in the backyard poultry flock thought to have infected the Louisiana patient initially.
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Bird flu 'may be mutating to become more transmissible to humans'
 
More than 70 percent of California’s dairy cow herds are infected with bird flu. Here’s what to know
A dozen more dairy herds in California have been stricken with bird flu as the virus continues to infect animals and humans around the U.S.

Nearly 700 herds in the state — or 71 percent of all herds — have caught H5N1 since late August, forcing Governor Gavin Newsom to declare a state of emergency and the government to announce new testing.

While California, the nation’s top milk-producing state, has the most infections in dairy herds, more infections were reported in Michigan, and the number of confirmed human cases has inched closer to 70, according to health officials.

Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that the virus had likely mutated in a Louisiana patient who had contracted the country’s first severe case of the illness.

Mutations could allow the virus to better bind to nerve endings in the respiratory tract to initiate infection, although scientists say this is not yet a cause for alarm. Generally, cases have been mild in humans.

While experts worry H5N1 will eventually mutate into a lethal strain capable of human-to-human transmission, authorities assert that the current risk to population health remains low. Human-to-human transmission has not yet been reported.
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More than 70 percent of California’s dairy cow herds are infected with bird flu. Here’s what to know
 
I noticed some hospitals making calls to the public to wear masks when they go there to help with the surge of flu. Because it's only the flu that's surging. Also there's a quad-demic, but it's all flu. Yes, so much flu, which isn't a concern at all. Unless it is.

After having said for years that COVID is just the flu, therefore there is no need to worry or bother with things such as wearing masks, let alone respirators, even less so improving ventilation, which is giving in to fear, or whatever.

Which will definitely not at all be a major problem if bird flu hits, and those years of "it's the flu, nothing to worry about" backfire again, having already backfired.

And sometimes I wonder how humanity ever got to use metal tools without just amputating all our limbs on the first day.
 
A 13-year-old girl in Canada with #H5N1 required mechanical ventilation, ECMO, CRRT, plasma exchange, and 3 antivirals.

I can’t stress this enough, but these extraordinary interventions are NOT typical for respiratory pathogens. Here are her chest X-rays 1 day apart, admission and the following day—highlighting how rapidly this progressed. We must do more now before we see more cases like this.
https://twitter.com/user/status/1874556700189168114
 
The BC teen with H5N1 BirdFlu was saved by ECMO. ECMO is the highest level of LIFE SUPPORT. It is the last resort for patients with severe heart or lung failure. ECMO wholly or partly replaces the function of the patient’s own heart and/or lungs. It is NOT freely available.
 
Mij said:
The BC teen with H5N1 BirdFlu was saved by ECMO. ECMO is the highest level of LIFE SUPPORT. It is the last resort for patients with severe heart or lung failure. ECMO wholly or partly replaces the function of the patient’s own heart and/or lungs. It is NOT freely available.
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we weep

Dakota15 said:
CNN: 'As pace and severity of human H5N1 cases accelerate, NIH leaders call for more action on bird flu'

“The risk...when this gets better at obviously infecting humans, and then we are faced with potential for human-to-human transmission,” Marrazzo said
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revise risk. first thereto revise "potential"

Human transmission was predicted pre and post Covid-Pandemic. It was predicted and predictable and now again inevitable, in my assessment the conditions guaranteed it a while back. These conditions were not inadvertent nor unavoidable.

We will lose the "normal" we got back to if it kills us. Then we will never see "normal" again. Twice bitten thrice shy. Three strikes and you're out. SO civilised we do like a close shave. It is not "potential" it is upon us. Now re-assess risk ("catastrophic risk" is the permanent: disability / decline / death)

Did they run a genetic assay to be so sure its not jumpiing between humans already ? Asymptomatic ones. Little trick it learnt 5 years ago. Can they tell ?

They told a lot looking at the Covid versions genetically. They told the difference between bat and lab sourcing, no lab sourcing then, but I don't recall if they said they can tell what it looks like once its mutated to jump around species.

As this one already did jump to and around land animals, why would any body think it cannot jump to and around humans, we need to know what can the science know before we go bat-shit crazy speculating that we cannot be told

Because the the birds were dead in their millions already. The Govt (UK) got Cobra onto it, discreetly put the hens into lockdown, very discreet, not in the news until coming out of lockdown, hen-houses declared safe again

Not foot and mouth, birds are air-bourne, unlike pigs, pigs can't fly, fact, but what WAS in the news during the hen-house lockdown, was they died in flocks north of Scotland .... moving down to the English coasts ....Devon, Cornwall, even something in the water, all normal, nothing to see here, move on, get a life, animals must move, runt

Can they tell genetically that a virus still cannot transmit between people, after they can see clinically that it jumped to people already ? Could they tell genetically before finding it in people whether it had the capability for cross-species transmission ?

what clue did they find in birds and 4-leggers and so assess risk to decide that this cross-species transmission was only a "potential" in the human case ?

If they just quietly panicked and decided not to panick us too then it is not a good look. Do they even have a quality evidence-base ?

We do disturb all bird habitats ...until birds give us their flu
 
Leading Public Health Figure Calls on Biden to Authorize Bird Flu Vaccine

There have been 66 confirmed bird flu cases in the U.S., all but one of which caused only mild illness, and there have been no reports of human-to-human transmission of the virus.

LINK
 
rvallee said:
I noticed some hospitals making calls to the public to wear masks when they go there to help with the surge of flu. Because it's only the flu that's surging. Also there's a quad-demic, but it's all flu. Yes, so much flu, which isn't a concern at all. Unless it is.
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There are currently over 5000 people in hospital in England because of flu - including my neighbour :(
 
Predicting H5N1 disease severity based on T cell responses
La Jolla Institute for ImmunologyJan 2 2025
New research led by scientists at La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI) suggests that many people already have immune cells on "stand by" to fight the H5N1 virus, also known as highly pathogenic avian influenza.

The H5N1 "bird flu" virus emerged in 2022 and has spread widely in animal populations, including poultry and cattle. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there have been 66 confirmed H5N1 infections [as of Dec. 31, 2024] in U.S. poultry and dairy workers who caught the virus through animal contact. There are no known cases of human-to-human transmission, so far.

LJI scientists and vaccine experts are keeping a close eye on the emerging virus. In a new mBio study, LJI Professor Alessandro Sette, Dr.Biol.Sci., and LJI Research Assistant Professor Alba Grifoni, Ph.D., compared genetic sequences from H5N1 to genetic sequences from seasonal influenza viruses that already circulate in humans.

The LJI team uncovered important similarities between H5N1 and these common viruses, which allowed them to predict that many people already have "cross-reactive" T cells that are ready to target H5N1-;should it ever mutate to cause widespread disease in humans.

"This makes us believe that a certain number of cross-reactive T cell responses may already be in place and may help decrease disease severity," says Sette, who also serves as Co-Director of the LJI Center for Vaccine Innovation.
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full article
Predicting H5N1 disease severity based on T cell responses
 
rvallee said:
I noticed some hospitals making calls to the public to wear masks when they go there to help with the surge of flu. Because it's only the flu that's surging. Also there's a quad-demic, but it's all flu. Yes, so much flu, which isn't a concern at all. Unless it is.

After having said for years that COVID is just the flu, therefore there is no need to worry or bother with things such as wearing masks, let alone respirators, even less so improving ventilation, which is giving in to fear, or whatever.

Which will definitely not at all be a major problem if bird flu hits, and those years of "it's the flu, nothing to worry about" backfire again, having already backfired.

And sometimes I wonder how humanity ever got to use metal tools without just amputating all our limbs on the first day.
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Quad-demic?
 
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