Johns Hopkins Health Security Decoded, June 6, 2024:
"The 2022-2023 mass die off of South American elephant seals due to H5N1 occurred because the virus acquired nearly 20 mutations that allowed it to spread more efficiently among mammals and cause more severe disease, according to a preprint study. The research team’s combined ecological and phylogenetic data support the first evidence of multinational mammal-to-mammal transmission of H5N1 viruses ever observed. They also found evidence suggesting the virus jumped from sea mammals back into birds. The findings support concerns that H5N1 viruses are becoming more flexible and adapting to mammals."
Make me a a bird flu milkshake please
Something I can drink with ease
Full of viral particles, raw and alive
So my immune system can go into overdrive
Hopefully it won't make me too sick
Or make my eyes bloodshot and snot too thick
Or cause a fever, or gastric distress
Or make me vomit all over my dress
Raw milk is healthier for you they say
Or so the cuckoo raw milk nuts yell today
Until they're all killed off and dead of the flu
or they survive, and they just pass it on to you
An increase in flu viruses detected at wastewater treatment plants in California in recent weeks has sparked concern that the #H5N1 bird flu may be spreading more rapidly than anticipated, potentially putting the state’s 1.7 million dairy cows at risk for infection.
Definition of utter insanity - Ontario will be cancelling funding of wastewater surveillance for ALL diseases - this as Covid is once again on the rise and H5N1 is lurking as a potential new pandemic
USDA just updated its page with THIRTEEN new herds infected since their last update.
The new herd infections are in South Dakota, Michigan and Idaho, with Idaho logging the most at 8 new herds infected.
Several of the infections were confirmed by a NVSL on the 28th, which is last Tuesday, so the USDA is continuing its pattern of untimely updates while saying "Data updated weekday by 4 pm ET."
That makes 80 herds with confirmed infections in 9 states.
Another dairy worker, this one in Michigan, has tested positive for H5N1 after showing signs of illness. Like the two others, this person had eye symptoms. Unlike the others, this person had a productive cough. If it is infecting human respiratory tissues, that isn't good, as coughing makes someone far more likely to spread the disease onward.
Nationally, #H5N1 has been found in 4 🦙 alpacas in Idaho, 2 dead feral 🐈 cats in New Mexico and 67 dairy 🐄 herds across nine states. With more animal to animal transmission, two recent human cases in the U.S. and a potential mortality rate of 50%, we need to ramp up surveillance efforts…
Add another name to the list of mammal species infected with #H5N1#avianflu: alpacas.
It’s not surprising at this point but it certainly isn’t reassuring either that this virus just keeps spreading farther and wider…
"Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison squirted raw H5N1-containing milk from infected cows into the throats of anesthetized laboratory mice, finding that the virus caused systemic infections after the mice were observed swallowing the dose. The illnesses began quickly, with symptoms of lethargy & ruffled fur starting on day 1. On day 4, the animals were euthanized to prevent extended suffering. Subsequent analysis found that the mice had high levels of H5N1 bird flu virus in their respiratory tracts, as well their hearts, kidneys, spleens, livers, mammary glands, and brains.
The recent news from the United States of bird flu in dairy cows has alarmed the Cambodians.
“The lesson learned from the U.S. is that we need to look more in these other animals and do more tests,” said Dr. Tum Sothyra
The ministry is expanding testing to animals that are likely to eat infected birds,such as ferrets &wild dogs, but he hopes it can find the funds to test cows as well
Poultry, however, is more difficult to surveil. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/20/health/bird-flu-tracking-cambodia.html?unlocked_article_code=1.tk0.YZmt.ZnBWvAkg0r_y&smid=url-share