Category: Avian Influenza
The hunt for the next pandemic is on our shores
ABC News Australia Along the untamed coast of southern Victoria, where thyme rice-flower and coast daisy hustle for space and mud flats melt into aqua ocean, a team of birdwatchers is searching for an invisible enemy. For almost 45 years, Rosalind Jessop has tracked the health of communities of wild birds, gathering data on flock […]
Apr 2, 2025
Current Situation: Bird Flu in Dairy Cows
CDC A multistate outbreak of HPAI A(H5N1) bird flu in dairy cows was first reported on March 25, 2024. This is the first time that these bird flu viruses had been found in cows. In the United States, since 2022, USDA APHIS has reported HPAI A(H5N1) virus detections in more than 200 mammals. On April […]
Apr 2, 2025
Toddler Dies Of Bird Flu In Andhra Pradesh
NDTV The infant died on March 15, and the Pune-based National Institute of Virology (NIV) later confirmed that she had contracted bird flu after testing her sample. A two-year-old girl from Andhra Pradesh succumbed to bird flu more than a fortnight ago, an official said on Wednesday. The toddler died on March 15, and the […]
Apr 2, 2025
What to do to stop the spread of bird flu?
BBC Disinfecting feet, frequent hand washing and changing footwear often are just some of the measures farmers take to try and halt the spread of bird flu. Cases of the virus have been found in Burnopfield and Lazonby, forcing the Animal and Plant Health Agency to set up surveillance zones in Tyne and Wear, Cumbria […]
Apr 2, 2025
FDA lays off bird flu leadership, among steep cuts to senior veterinarians
CBS News The top veterinarians overseeing the bird flu response at the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Veterinary Medicine were laid off on Tuesday, as part of sweeping cuts ordered by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to the nation’s health agencies. Out of some 10,000 workers laid off Tuesday across the Department of Health […]
Apr 2, 2025
HHS layoffs include staff overseeing bird flu response
Reuters The Trump administration has fired staff who were working on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s bird flu response as part of its mass layoffs at the Department of Health and Human Services, according to a source familiar with the situation. The Tuesday firings, which many employees learned of as they attempted to enter […]
Apr 2, 2025
12 months and 70 cases since the first human bird flu infection: Are we any safer?
ABC News One year ago, the first bird flu infection in a human in the United States was reported in a Texas dairy worker, just weeks after the virus had been found in cattle for the first time ever. While the virus has spread in birds for decades, in recent years it has started to […]
Apr 1, 2025
Bird flu could be on the cusp of transmitting between humans − but there are ways to slow down viral evolution
The Conversation Disease forecasts are like weather forecasts: We cannot predict the finer details of a particular outbreak or a particular storm, but we can often identify when these threats are emerging and prepare accordingly. The viruses that cause avian influenza are potential threats to global health. Recent animal outbreaks from a subtype called H5N1 have been […]
Apr 1, 2025
Influenza of avian origin confirmed in a sheep in Yorkshire
UK.gov Influenza of avian origin (H5N1) has been confirmed in a single sheep in Yorkshire. The UK’s Chief Veterinary Officer has confirmed a case of influenza of avian origin (H5N1) in a single sheep in Yorkshire following repeat positive milk testing. The case was identified following routine surveillance of co-located livestock on a premises […]
Mar 26, 2025
A year later, cow flu origins are an unsettling puzzle
Science It’s still unclear how H5N1 virus jumped into U.S. cattle—and why it keeps doing so. When U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) officials reported one year ago today that the H5N1 avian influenza virus had infected dairy cattle in Texas and Kansas, it seemed a freak event—a rare confluence of factors that somehow allowed a […]
Mar 26, 2025