Bird flu

Sly Saint

Sly Saint

Senior Member (Voting Rights)
I'm getting quite a few stories about Bird flu spreading to humans and the possibility of a Bird flu pandemic coming up in my news feed.
This is one of the latest;
Bird flu found in dead seals on UK beach as public urged to stay away from animal corpses
Bird flu has been found in the carcasses of five dead seals on a beach in Cornwall.

The Cornwall Wildlife Trust urged members of the public to stay away from all dead animals which wash up on beaches including seals, dolphins, porpoises, whales and sea birds. There has also been cases of Bird Flu in a dolphin in Devon, the Trust said on its website.

“The general public are advised against approaching and interacting with seals in the UK, even when the animals are in danger or distress,” a statement from the trust said.


“Cornwall Wildlife Trust are also urging all members of the public to stay away from all dead animals, which wash into our beaches, including seals, dolphins, porpoises, whales and, of course, sea birds.”
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While there is no evidence H5N1 virus is an imminent threat or can spread between people, the experts have shared their plan to “prepare for the worst”.

The virus has only been found to spread to humans if they come into contact with sick birds but protections are stepping up after an 11-year-old girl died from H5N1 in Cambodia in February - with her father also testing positive.

It is believed the Spanish influenza pandemic of 1918, which killed approximately 50 million people, was first caused by transmission of an avian flu virus to humans.
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Bird flu found in dead seals on UK beach as public urged to stay away from animal corpses (msn.com)
 
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I really hope that in 6 months, a year, we aren't all talking about bird flu that has spread to humans. There have been some cases of animal-to-human transmission, which, although few, is very worrying. I hope a bird flu vaccine is in progress.

It's not only a vaccine we need for a possible pandemic. To ward it off, we need to reform factory farming and make sure wild animals have their habitats, unmolested by humans.
 
perchance dreamer said:
I really hope that in 6 months, a year, we aren't all talking about bird flu that has spread to humans. There have been some cases of animal-to-human transmission, which, although few, is very worrying. I hope a bird flu vaccine is in progress.

It's not only a vaccine we need for a possible pandemic. To ward it off, we need to reform factory farming and make sure wild animals have their habitats, unmolested by humans.
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Agreed. And in the UK the game bird industry sure1y needs to be reduced and face much stricter regu1ation (not sure what the situation is in other countries).

https://www.birdguides.com/articles...mprise-half-of-wild-avian-biomass-in-britain/
 
USDA Confirms Cow-to-Cow Transmission a Factor in Avian Flu Spread

"The U.S. Department of Agriculture said this week that cow-to-cow transmission is a factor in the spread of avian flu in dairy herds, but it still does not know exactly how the virus is being moved around.

Farmers and veterinarians have been waiting for confirmation on how the virus is transmitted to better control its spread. Dairy herds in eight states tested positive over the past month, along with one dairy worker in Texas.

"Those of us that have worked with influenza for a long time were fairly quickly saying, 'Yep it moves cow to cow,'" Jim Lowe, an associate dean at the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine, said on Friday. "You can't explain the epidemiology any other way.""

https://www.agweb.com/news/livestoc...-cow-cow-transmission-factor-avian-flu-spread
 
I keep seeing more and more articles on bird flu spreading in the U.S. We've had 36 human cases since April 2024, and, according to this Salon article, half of the human cases were reported in the past 2 weeks. Bird flu has also been infecting many species of wildlife.

The article describes how now there's been a confirmed case of a pig contracting bird flu, which is worrisome since pigs can harbor both human flu and bird flu, making possible a new strain that could be more likely to infect humans.

The number of bird flu cases could be under counted and under reported. It seems that a lot of the cases are from factory farms. I would think there would be an urgent effort to test farm workers and animals at the very least, but that's a political hot potato. Many factory farm workers in the U.S. are undocumented, and they might not have access to health care or sick days. Also, these factory farm businesses would probably not want it publicized that their businesses have animals with bird flu.

Unless federal health inspectors are invited in, states have no obligation to let them test factory farms and animals unless a federal emergency were declared. It seems to me we could be sleepwalking into another dangerous pandemic. I don't think there have been any confirmed cases of human-to-human transmission so far, but it becomes more likely if the virus keeps mutating and spreading throughout the animal kingdom.

Here's the Salon article, with 3 related articles listed at the end.

https://www.salon.com/2024/11/01/bi...uman-cases-double-in-two-weeks/?in_brief=true
 
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Given transmission to humans , and fatality rates perhaps worth bumping this thread.
Seems woefully monitored .

https://www.cdc.gov/bird-flu/situation-summary/index.html


Wastewater monitoring showing increased prevalence in California.

This is airborne, food borne and droplet spread

Finland started vaccination programme earlier this year
Australia is looking to roll out vaccinations ( from news)
 
There's a teenager in hospital in British Columbia with H5N1. No connection with cattle farms -

https://twitter.com/user/status/1857651629279031675


This link says the mutation necessary for h2h transmission has been sequenced in this case. I've seen posts from people who know the hospital, saying no precautions are being taken regarding airborne transmission.

There have been a number of human cases in workers on large cattle farms in several US states, since early summer (I think). High prevalence and mortality in the cattle. Also numerous deaths of cats on the farms.

Sorry, not up to hunting down links.
 
Amw66 said:
Some black humour .
https://twitter.com/user/status/1856424793488113871
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Unfortunately, pretty much guaranteed to be the strategy from day 1. If the death rate ends up being too high, the data will simply be suppressed. And once it's indisputable, it will be too late to stop. People will simply have to take all precautions for themselves.

The day this strategy became adopted for COVID was the day it was inevitable that it would apply for the next one. It happened so smoothly and not just without pushback, but you pretty much only see pushback about not doing it again this way.
 
Another strain of bird flu confirmed in UK - as mass cull ordered
Another strain of bird flu (H5N1) has been confirmed at a poultry farm in Cornwall, with a mass cull of the birds ordered by the government.
All birds at the St Ives premises will now be humanely killed, with a 3km protection zone and 10km protection zone put in place.

The last avian flu outbreak in the UK happened in February (described as the country's largest ever) and involved the H5N1 virus.

It comes less than two weeks after a similar outbreak was reported in Yorkshire, but with a different strain of the disease (H5N5).
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Another strain of bird flu confirmed in UK - as mass cull ordered
 
Five million doses of bird flu vaccine bought by UK to prepare for pandemic
The UK government has bought more than 5 million doses of bird flu vaccine to fight a potential pandemic as cases among animals increase.

The move comes amid an increase in the spread of the virus among birds, according to the UK Health Security Agency.

However, the jab is only intended for use if the virus were to spread among humans and there is currently no evidence of human-to-human transmission.

Sir Andrew Pollard, director of the Oxford Vaccine Group, University of Oxford, said: “Emergence of a new strain of influenza remains at the top of the list of pandemic threats and so providing resilience against potential risky flu types, like H5, is important for future pandemic and outbreak preparedness.

“H5 is only one of the multiple families of flu viruses that create such a risk, so we should not be complacent. But H5 is the one that we are most concerned about today as a result of the global spread of this virus amongst birds and various mammals, and worryingly across the United States amongst cattle this year. H5 is out there and we need to do all we can to be prepared.”

Dr Meera Chand, Emerging Infection Lead at the UK Health Security Agency, said: “It is important for us to be prepared against a range of different influenza viruses that may pose human health risks. Early access to vaccines saves lives. Adding H5 vaccines to the interventions already available to us will help us to be ready for a wider range of threats.”
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Five million doses of bird flu vaccine bought by UK to prepare for pandemic
 
Bird flu could be spreading to horses undetected, study finds
It's another twist in the emerging threat of the H5N1 virus, widely seen as the most likely cause of the next pandemic.

Scientists at the University of Glasgow found antibodies to the virus in blood samples taken from horses living in Mongolia. Their results have been published in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases.

Professor Pablo Murcia, who led the research, told Sky News that the finding suggests horses worldwide could be vulnerable in areas where bird flu is present - and they could pass on the virus to humans.
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Bird flu could be spreading to horses undetected, study finds
 
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