Category: Featured Headlines
Many human infections with ‘cow flu’ are going undetected
Science Scientists find evidence of past H5N1 infection in 7% of workers exposed at dairy farms—but no signs of human-to-human transmission. The H5N1 bird flu strain circulating in U.S. dairy cattle is likely infecting far more farm workers than scientists realized, a new study published today by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention […]
Nov 12, 2024
Bird flu infections more widespread among US dairy workers than thought – study
Guardian Rate of dairy workers with antibodies to bird flu significantly higher than known cases of virus. Eight out of 115 dairy workers, or 7%, who worked with H5N1-infected cows in Michigan and Colorado have antibodies to bird flu, according to a new study from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) – a rate significantly […]
Nov 12, 2024
Canada: B.C. teen with avian flu is in critical condition, provincial health officer says
CBC Teenager from Fraser Valley is first person in Canada believed to have contracted virus. The teenager who tested positive for avian flu is in critical condition and being treated at B.C. Children’s Hospital, Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry says. Henry says the teen, the first presumptive human case of avian flu contracted in Canada, […]
Nov 12, 2024
Avian flu outbreak in California leads to depopulation of 1.5 million chickens and turkeys
Fresno Bee An outbreak of the avian flu on California’s poultry ranches continues to climb with more than 1.5 million chickens and turkeys being depopulated as part of the state’s eradication effort. The latest county to get hit is Sacramento County, where 48,300 commercial turkeys were killed after the highly pathogenic avian influenza was confirmed […]
Nov 5, 2024
Study of H5N1 from an infected person
NIH A highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 outbreak in U.S. dairy cattle began in early 2024. As of early November, infections have been confirmed in hundreds of cattle in 15 states. More than 40 human cases have also been reported. Most of the human cases were in farm workers who had mild respiratory symptoms […]
Nov 5, 2024
Bird flu virus found in Los Angeles County wastewater
Los Angeles Times Los Angeles County health officials said they have detected H5N1 bird flu virus in wastewater collected from the A.K. Warren Water Resource Facility in Carson. The viral “hit” was detected on Oct. 28 by WastewaterSCAN, an infectious disease monitoring network run by researchers at Stanford, Emory University and Verily, Alphabet Inc.’s life sciences organization. […]
Nov 5, 2024
Bird Flu Cases May be Spreading From Cat Owners to Their Pets
Newsweek Internal emails reveal Michigan health officials suspected that owners may have inadvertently spread bird flu to their household cats, raising new concerns about transmission patterns of the virus. “If we only could have gotten testing on the [REDACTED] household members, their clothing if possible, and their workplaces, we may have been able to prove human-to-cat transmission,” officials […]
Nov 5, 2024
USDA will launch testing of bulk raw milk for bird flu contamination
Food Safety News The USDA is set to begin testing bulk raw milk for bird flu contamination in an effort to control the rapid spread of the virus. In addition to more than 100 million chickens having been infected, more than 400 dairy herds have also become infected with the virus, with more than 200 […]
Nov 5, 2024
Bird flu detected in pigs – here’s why virologists are concerned
The Conversation H5N1 influenza has now been detected in pigs. This was something virologists had been worrying about ever since this highly pathogenic strain of bird flu started its rapid global spread in 2020. But why were we worrying specifically about pigs? And does this case – detected on a farm in Oregon on October 29 – […]
Nov 5, 2024
Bird Flu in Pigs Is One Step Closer to Endangering Humans
Bloomberg If a pig infected with human flu got infected with the H5N1 bird flu, a new virus could emerge with parts of both. That’d be bad. When the USDA issued an announcement on Oct. 30 that the worrisome H5N1 bird flu turned up in a pig, I dropped what I was doing to read it. The situation […]
Nov 5, 2024