Category: Featured Headlines
Study of cow tissues provides clues for unusual pattern of bird flu infections in dairy cattle
STAT A different cow tissues may help to explain the pattern of illness being seen in the outbreak of H5N1 bird flu in U.S. dairy cattle — and also is sparking debate about the implications of the cow outbreak for human disease. The study, a preprint that hasn’t yet been through peer review by a scientific journal, […]
May 8, 2024
There’s no question H5N1 bird flu has ‘pandemic potential.’ How likely is that worst-case scenario?
CBC News: Unprecedented scale of outbreaks raises new concerns, scientists warn. As early as 1997, just a year after H5N1 was first discovered, there were warning signs this form of avian flu was capable of wreaking havoc far beyond birds. That year, poultry outbreaks in China and Hong Kong were linked to 18 human infections […]
May 7, 2024
STAT Jeremy Farrar, now the World Health Organization’s chief scientist, was working in Vietnam 20 years ago when the H5N1 virus started to spread across Asia — at that point in poultry. He recalls there was a reluctance among farmers to cull their chickens because they weren’t being compensated for them. Movement of infected birds […]
May 7, 2024
Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza A(H5N1) Virus Infection in a Dairy Farm Worker
NEJM Sporadic human infections with highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) A(H5N1) virus, with a wide spectrum of clinical severity and a cumulative case fatality of more than 50%, have been reported in 23 countries over more than 20 years.1 HPAI A(H5N1) clade 2.3.4.4b viruses have spread widely among wild birds worldwide since 2020–2021,2,3 resulting in outbreaks in […]
May 7, 2024
New revelations in the mystery of the dolphin with the bird flu
Pasadena Star News Veterinarians previously thought dolphins had low susceptibility to flu infections — and dolphins don’t feed on birds. So biologists were highly concerned when a dolphin with the bird flu died in Florida. The infected dolphin was trapped between a dock and a seawall in the Big Bend region in March 2022. By […]
May 7, 2024
Two veterinarians, hundreds of miles apart, solved a cow sickness whodunit
Daily Montanan t appeared to be a problem with the food. In February, dairy cattle in multiple herds in northern Texas were suddenly producing less milk, and what they gave was abnormal and thick. And the typically voracious eaters had seemingly lost their appetites. For weeks in March, veterinarian Dr. Barb Petersen, who lives in […]
May 7, 2024
CDC We describe an unusual mortality event caused by a highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) A(H5N1) virus clade 2.3.4.4b involving harbor (Phoca vitulina) and gray (Halichoerus grypus) seals in the St. Lawrence Estuary, Quebec, Canada, in 2022. Fifteen (56%) of the seals submitted for necropsy were considered to be fatally infected by HPAI H5N1 containing […]
May 7, 2024
US CDC asks states to make worker protective gear available to combat bird flu
Reuters The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Monday it had met with state health officials and asked them to facilitate distribution of protective gear for farm workers to avoid infection against H5N1 bird flu. The CDC said it asked state health departments to work with their agriculture department counterparts and […]
May 7, 2024
US to test ground beef in states with bird-flu outbreaks in dairy cows
Reuters The U.S. government said on Monday it is collecting samples of ground beef at retail stores in states with outbreaks of bird flu in dairy cows for testing, but remains confident the meat supply is safe. Federal officials are seeking to verify the safety of milk and meat after confirming the H5N1 virus in […]
May 1, 2024
The Bird Flu Outbreak Has More Questions Than Answers
Bloomberg Opinion As the magnitude of the bird flu outbreak in cattle becomes clearer, so does the need to quickly get a firmer grip on some basic facts. Namely, how far this H5N1 virus has spread, how it is spreading, and where this situation is likely to go next. The Covid-weary public also wants to […]
May 1, 2024