Category: Avian Influenza
How to Handle the Bird Flu
(Foreign Affairs) In 2005, U.S. President George W. Bush stood at a podium in Bethesda, Maryland, to make an important announcement. He was joined by five members of his cabinet, two senators, three congressmen, and multiple international guests. It was an unusual show of force for a press conference, and with two unpopular wars underway […]
Mar 14, 2023
It’s Time for a Flu Vaccine—for Birds
Wired Avian influenza has killed millions of birds. Shots to prevent it already exist. Why isn’t the entire poultry industry using them? 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 […]
Mar 8, 2023
How to stop the bird flu outbreak becoming a pandemic
Nature From tracking the disease’s spread in wild birds to updating human vaccines, there are measures that could help keep avian influenza in check. Fears are rising about bird flu’s potential to spark a human pandemic, as well as its destruction of wildlife and farmed birds. An 11-year-old girl tragically died in Cambodia last week after […]
Mar 7, 2023
Chile reports sea lions affected by bird flu
Gov Website (Machine Translated) It reiterates the call to the population not to touch or approach wildlife in general, to protect the well-being and integrity of people. Specialists from the National Service of Natural Areas Protected by the State (Sernanp), an agency attached to the Ministry of the Environment, recorded the death of 3,487 funny […]
Mar 7, 2023
U.S. Considers Vaccinating Chickens as Bird Flu Kills Millions of Them
(New York Times) The largest outbreak of avian influenza in U.S. history has driven up egg prices and raised concerns about a human pandemic, though C.D.C. experts say the risk of that is low. The Biden administration, keeping a watchful eye on an outbreak of avian influenza that has led to the deaths of tens […]
Mar 7, 2023
France reports bird flu in foxes near Paris, WOAH says
Reuters France has reported an outbreak of highly pathogenic H5N1 bird flu among red foxes northeast of Paris, the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) said on Tuesday, as the spread of the virus to mammals raised global concerns. After three foxes were found dead in a nature reserve in Meaux near where gulls had […]
Mar 7, 2023
Bird flu kills sea lions and thousands of pelicans in Peru’s protected areas
(Reuters) Bird flu has killed tens of thousands of birds, mostly pelicans, and at least 716 sea lions in protected areas across Peru, the authorities said, as the H5N1 strain spreads throughout the region. Peru recorded its first case of the virus in November in birds in the north of the country. Since then it […]
Feb 21, 2023
Unprecedented avian flu outbreak continues to wreak havoc in Canadian flocks and around the world
(Globe and Mail) An unprecedented avian flu outbreakthat has wreaked havoc on flocks around the world has forced the cull of millions of birds in Canada, with the federal government paying out tens of millions of dollars in compensation. There have been about 7.2 million domestic birds affected by H5N1 avian influenza, or bird flu, […]
Feb 21, 2023
Seventh Ecuador layer flock hit by avian influenza
(Watt Poultry) Four new cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in Ecuador, including one commercial egg laying operation, are identified in a new report from the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH). In the hamlet of Zumbalica, a commercial layer flock had been experiencing high mortalities, with 9,050 hens in a flock of nearly 17,000 had […]
Feb 21, 2023
Why a bird flu outbreak at a mink farm is reigniting public health concerns
(PBS Newshour) A recent bird flu outbreak at a mink farm in Spain has reignited worries about the virus spreading more broadly to people. Scientists have been keeping tabs on this bird flu virus since the 1950s, though it wasn’t deemed a threat to people until a 1997 outbreak in Hong Kong among visitors to […]
Feb 19, 2023