Category: Avian Influenza
Bird Flu Outbreak Puts Mink Farms Back in the Spotlight
(New York Times) A new variant of avian influenza appears capable of spreading among mammals, highlighting the need for more proactive surveillance, experts said. Early last October, the mink on a fur farm in Spain suddenly began to fall ill. They stopped eating and began salivating excessively. They became clumsy, started to experience tremors and […]
Feb 8, 2023
Bird Flu Outbreak Is a Wake-Up Call for Agriculture
(Bloomberg) The H1N5 virus has been rampaging through poultry farms and a Spanish mink facility. Perhaps we can blame Covid fatigue for numbing us to the risks of other viruses. But it should be bigger news that a bird flu has mutated to spread through mammals and is ominously appearing among wild and domesticated animals around the […]
Feb 8, 2023
Bird flu is spreading among mammals. How worried should we be?
(Sydney Morning Herald) In Spain, bird flu appears to have spread from mink to mink for the first time. This is a troubling situation that warrants close attention. “These are exactly the kind of situations we’re really worried about,” Associate Professor Paul Horwood tells me. Dr Michelle Wille says she and “many of my colleagues […]
Feb 7, 2023
Here’s Why Experts Are Concerned About Bird Flu
(MedPageToday) What appears to be mammal-to-mammal transmission of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) A(H5N1) on a mink farm in Spain has caught the attention of infectious disease epidemiologists around the world. A paper published in Eurosurveillance last monthopens in a new tab or window detailed an H5N1 outbreak among farmed minks in the Galicia region of Spain in October […]
Feb 7, 2023
Peru confirms H5N1 avian influenza detected in 3 sea lions, 1 dolphin
(Outbreak News Today) The National Agrarian Health Service of Peru, or SENASA in Lima reported yesterday that H5N1 avian influenza has been confirmed in three sea lions and one dolphin in a official communication published on Twitter (Computer translated):
Feb 7, 2023
Why scientists are worried about bird flu
(Yahoo News) Revelations about the spread of avian flu at a Spanish mink farm in October are raising alarm. The mink were infected with an H5N1 variant known as 2.3.4.4b, which was discovered in 2020 and has since made its way around the world. While it is not uncommon for mammals to catch avian flu after […]
Feb 7, 2023
What Fresh Hell Is the New Bird-Flu Outbreak?
(The Intelligencer) Almost three years after COVID-19 rolled across America, the virus has never felt like less of a daily menace. But don’t worry: The possibility of another global pandemic is never very far off. Avian flu, specifically the H5N1 strain, has spread widely among bird populations and other animals in the last couple years. More concerning for humans, […]
Feb 7, 2023
Could bird flu in mink signal threat of a human pandemic?
(DW) A bird flu outbreak on a Spanish mink farm has alarmed scientists. The virus may be spreading for the first time from mammal to mammal — and could become a danger for humans. It started in October 2022, when several dead mink were discovered on a farm in Galicia in northwestern Spain. Veterinarians initially blamed the coronavirus. […]
Feb 7, 2023
Alarming Spread of Bird Flu Continues as More Species Infected
(Science Alert) Experts have warned that the recent detection of bird flu in mammals including foxes, otters, minks, seals, and even grizzly bears is concerning but emphasized that the virus would have to significantly mutate to spread between humans.
Feb 6, 2023
Free-Range Egg Supply at Risk as UK Poultry Kept Indoors While Bird-Flu Rages
(Bloomberg) UK chickens and hens will stay indoors until the country’s worst-ever bird flu outbreak abates further. While risk levels are reviewed weekly, housing orders in place since November in England may not lift until spring, when wild birds that carry the virus migrate elsewhere, Chief Veterinary Officer Christine Middlemiss said Tuesday. That means free-range eggs — […]
Jan 31, 2023