Category: Featured Headlines
Rwanda is dealing with its first outbreak of deadly Marburg virus disease
CNN For the first time in Rwanda’s history, its health ministry is dealing with an outbreak of Marburg virus disease, a rare but deadly hemorrhagic disease similar to Ebola – but unlike Ebola, there is no treatment or vaccines for Marburg, and it has a fatality rate of 88%. So far, 26 people have gotten sick, 18 are […]
Oct 1, 2024
Was It Really a Hot Zone Summer?
NY Times From Covid to dengue, viral outbreaks seemed to be popping up all over. But maybe Americans are just more attuned to threats now. Bird flu. Mpox, formerly monkeypox. Eastern equine encephalitis. West Nile. Listeria. Dengue. Oropouche. And, of course, Covid. Have the past few months felt like an unending parade of infectious disease? […]
Sep 25, 2024
CDC reveals new data on bird flu in Michigan farmworkers as US case count ticks up
The H5N1 avian flu virus that infected poultry workers in Colorado and Michigan shows similarities, but CDC Director Dr. Mandy Cohen reassures that human-to-human transmission hasn’t occurred and current population risk is low.
Jul 23, 2024
Cows, dairy workers, and America’s struggle to track bird flu
BBC For the past 12 years, Freddy Morales has spent most of his time in close proximity to America’s dairy cows, working on several of the country’s thousands of dairy farms. Despite having a job that requires coming into close contact with the animals and regularly sticking medicine down their throats, Mr Morales had not […]
Jul 23, 2024
There Are No Good Options Left With Bird Flu
The Atlantic reports a significant bird flu outbreak in the U.S. Six people on a Colorado chicken farm have tested positive for H5N1, highlighting the virus’s widespread impact on animals and potential pandemic risk.
Jul 23, 2024
Are Doctors Missing Cases of H5N1 Bird Flu in People Who Drink Raw Milk?
MedPageToday Raw milk from cows infected with the H5N1 bird flu has been shown to contain very high levels of the virus, making it quite risky for people to consume. With FDA data showing some 4.4% of Americans drank raw milk at least once a year, and 1% drank it once a week or more, millions of Americans may […]
Jul 23, 2024
How nations are preparing for a possible H5N1 bird flu pandemic
Nature Bird flu could become a human pandemic. How are countries preparing? As cases of avian influenza continue to rise in cattle in the United States, countries are preparing for the possibility that the virus could start spreading in people. Many nations are ramping up surveillance, as well as purchasing vaccines or developing new ones. […]
Jul 16, 2024
U.S. bird flu response builds on lessons learned from COVID
Harvard School of Public Health CDC Director Mandy Cohen explains how country is tackling the H5N1 outbreak July 16, 2024—Avian influenza, or bird flu, has been in the headlines for months now, percolating at a low level but sparking concerns about the risk of broader contagion. In the U.S., bird flu has infected dairy cows in […]
Jul 16, 2024
Forbes Here’s the latest news about a global outbreak of H5N1 bird flu that started in 2020, and recently spread among cattle in U.S. states and marine mammals across the world, which has health officials closely monitoring it and experts concerned the virus could mutate and eventually spread to humans, where it has proven rare […]
Jul 16, 2024
5 Cases of Bird Flu Reported in Colorado Poultry Workers, Doubling This Year’s US Tally
KHN Five people who work at a poultry farm in northeastern Colorado have tested positive for the bird flu, the Colorado public health department reported July 14. This brings the known number of U.S. cases to nine. The five people were likely infected by chickens, which they had been tasked with killing in response to a bird […]
Jul 16, 2024