Not looking forward 😒 to world 🌎 governments 🧐 underreacting 🙈 🙉 🙊 & memory-holing 🕳️ another pandemic 😷 sandwiched 🥪 on top of the never-ending #Covid#pandemic. 🫥
#H5N1 spreading from 🐦 to 🐮, 🐮 to 🐮, and from 🐮 to🧍is worrisome 😬.
"2) From 2003 to 2024, 887 cases of human infection with avian influenza A(#H5N1) virus were reported from 23 countries. Of these 887 cases, 462 were fatal. That's a horrifying case fatality rate (CFR) of 52%.
Almost all the humans who got it, caught it from another animal. However, there have been suspected instances of humans getting avian flu from other humans"
And via Helen Branswell 🇨🇦 @HelenBranswell
5:08 PM · Apr 1, 2024
"Having covered #H5N1#birdflu for a very long time now, I don't like seeing it move into new species & I don't like human infections. That said, this situation — human case in Texas, caught from cows — probably isn't as unsettling as it might seem."
"Small update – cats 🐱 have also tested positive for #H5N1 in this dairy cattle outbreak, (Texas Department of State Health Services confirming via email w/ Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy @ U MN).
Not surprising OFC, but good to have that clarification since the wording in yesterday's health alert was unclear."
Highly pathogenic avian flu, H5N1 Bird Flu, has infected a worker in Texas, only the 2nd known human infection in the U.S. since the pandemic began, in 2022.
This directly follows an outbreak of H5N1 in Texas dairy cattle that has already spread to other states. Already, billions of birds have died in this pandemic, both domestic chickens & turkeys, as well as wild birds. It has not yet mutated into a form that is transmissible from human to human. However, gaining the ability to transmit between mammals, particularly farm animals, could be a step in that evolutionary direction. And its case fatality rate may be as high as 50%
Dass sich da wer mit #H5N1 angesteckt hat, ist für sich genommen nicht so wahnsinnig dramatisch. Viel interessanter und problematischer ist, was da grad mit den Kühen abläuft.
Unter denen verbreitet sich H5N1 grade, und das ist aus mehreren Gründen ziemlich überraschend.
The Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use of the European Medicines Agency has recommended the approval of two vaccines for active immunization against the H5N1 subtype of the influenza A virus.
Jetzt wird aus Texas der erste Fall von #Vogelgrippe#H5N1 beim Menschen berichtet: Der Patient hatte Kontakt zu infizierten Kühen!
Isabella Eckerle kommentiert das so: "Keine tollen Neuigkeiten. Hoffentlich gibt es bald weitere Informationen und entsprechende Maßnahmen auf den betroffenen Betrieben. Wir sollten wirklich auch in #Europa#Kühe testen, um zu verstehen, wie weit verbreitet solche Infektionen sind. Ein weiteres Beispiel dafür, wie Nutztiere als Verstärker-/Zwischenwirt fungieren."
CDC: "This person had exposure to dairy cattle in Texas presumed to be infected with HPAI A(H5N1) viruses. The patient reported eye redness (consistent with conjunctivitis), as their only symptom, and is recovering. The patient was told to isolate and is being treated with an antiviral drug for flu. " #cattle#H5N1#HPAI#influenza#flu#beef
A Texas dairy worker has tested positive for the avian flu, marking the first identified human case of an illness in the U.S. that has sickened cattle across several states over the past few weeks.
The infection, only the second human case of H5N1 ever recorded in the country, is worrying public health experts who for decades have cautioned that avian flu could pose a serious threat.
“Every single time is a little bit of Russian roulette,” said veteran public health expert Ashish Jha, who led the Biden administration’s Covid-19 response. “You play that game long enough and one of these times it will become fit to spread among humans.”
JN.1 and JN.1.4 stil dominate the leaderboard, but scientists are especially watching a groiup of new mutations including JN.1.18, JN.1.13, KP.2, JN.1.16, and KQ.1.: https://ibb.co/6RvHcZR
Some of these are moving FAST despite the already-very-fast mutations on the landscape.
Wastewater
We've reached a level of SARS2 material in wastewater low enough to match previous years (2020, 2021.): https://ibb.co/DMyG0k4
CDC
Quite a lot of counties with new hospital admits, especially the Western half of the State. The Southwest corner by Greene Co and from Centre on over to Erie Co and Jefferson are HIGH on the newest chart.: https://ibb.co/m6KYR0Z
The Inpatient Beds chart looks good except for some increases in Lawrence and around Cameron Cos.: https://ibb.co/SPm1wJt
The ICU bed chart looks very good! Most counties are having decreases! However some increases up by Pike Co and significant increases in Franklin and Fulton Cos.:https://ibb.co/sKdK54P
Research
Tuberculosis after recovering from COVID-19 is becoming more common.: https://ibb.co/ZxZ7kHY
Reactivation of underlying pathogens is NOT NEW. We know this factually from the chicken pox/shingles pathogen.
Also, measles is known to reset the ENTIRE immune system and bring protection from everything down to zero, potentially leaving reactivation of underlying pathogens, which is by levels of magnitude more complex than the physical disability it can cause and makes it imperative that you VACCINATE YOUR KIDS.: https://ibb.co/cbFXrRw
Again: NONE of this is brand new, and COVID19 along with other known pathogens, seems to potentially weaken the immune system enough to reactivate underlying pathogens.
Non-SARS2 Pathogens
COVID and RSV thankfully have been downgraded on WastewaterSCAN to "Medium" and "low" respectively.: https://ibb.co/k2SpgLR
However, quite a number of pathogens are still ranking in the HIGH level: FluA, FluB, Human Metapneumovirus (HMPV) and the gastro pathogens Norovirus and Rotavirus are still out there.
HMPV often presents with a rash and is related to RSV:
The prevention for all these respiratory diseses is the same!
Be conscious of crowds.
Wear a mask in places with low air filtration.
Keep the air clean!
Stay home if you are sick!
For norovirus and rotavirus, it's important to wash hands with soap and warm water for 20sec.
:ms_arrow_right: DO NOT depend on gloves and hand sanitizer to control Norovirus, the particles are very resistant to alcohol.
H5N1
Nothing above here has scientists sitting up at attention right now except one thing: H5N1 bird flu.
H5N1 has jumped to dairy cattle (after infecting numerous other species such as seals, fox, deer, etc.), has been found in cattle in TX, KS, MI, NM, and now Idaho.: https://ibb.co/1JgGY2v
Before now, almost all transmission was bird-to-other-species. "Cow-to-cow transmission cannot be ruled out" and will be a disaster for the food supply if not controlled.: https://ibb.co/mDKVZ7R
There is resistance amongst dairy farmers in the US and in Europe to get their cattle tested.
The absolute worst case scenario is if it "makes the leap" to pigs. That means, if genetically it mutates (like COVID-19 is doing) to be able to:
---Infect pigs.
---Gain capability of pig-to-pig transmission.
The genetic "leap" from bird to mammals was very large, and will also be the "leap" from cattle to pig.....but the "leap" from pigs and ferrets to humans after that will be really, really small.
This would be the same route the Spanish Flu took 106 years ago: Birds -> pigs -> humans.
It is...really not a good time to consume unpasteurized, raw dairy products.
:ms_arrow_right: I'm spending a lot of words on this because so far, this thing has a 50% kill rate**. That is, 1 out of every 2 people who contract H5N1 will die.
I don't know what else to say. We MUST push for thorough farm testing, biosecurity, and intense transmission research.
Stay safe, I hope you had a GREAT holiday, and don't forget to use some form of source control in your daily adventures! 💐
When you have epidemiologists and virus experts declaring 'this is terrifying' maybe we should wake up and take notice
The next pandemic might already be here; not only are we not prepared, we have become violently opposed to public health measures, our leaders want us to wallow in blissful ignorance
If bird flu does cross over into the human population it will be devastating - Covid is nothing compared to H5N1
"In the last week we have learned that #H5N1 is widespread in ruminant animals across the US. First goat kids were found with unusual neurological symptoms that turned out to be H5N1 at a farm in Western Minnesota. Then widespread unusual symptoms in dairy cows in Texas and Kansas turned out to be avian influenza as well.
Moreover, in the dairy cows this is showing up in large scale operations in places where there are a LOT of cattle feedlots. And cows in #CAFO feedlots are famously sick already - they are fed #antibiotics basically to keep them from dropping dead, but cows in confinement agriculture headed to slaughter are generally unhealthy, which ups the chance that the virus will mutate to spread cow to cow.
In order to prevent that, the solution will almost certainly be the same one that has been used in confinement poultry operations - mass slaughter. So at an absolute minimum, we are looking a substantial increase in the price of beef, goat, probably lamb & milk." https://ko-fi.com/post/Bird-Flu-Round-Two-H5N1-is-Nastier-Than-Covid-J3J4W5DEK
The vaccines, Celldemic and Incellipan, protect against the H5N1 subtype of the influenza A virus. The Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use of the European Medicines Agency has recommended the approval of two vaccines for active immunization against the H5N1 subtype of the influenza A virus, which causes avian...
The researchers are now considering that transmissions are occurring between #mammals. Scientists had previously assumed that mammals were being infected from contact with #birds through fecal matter or their dead carcasses. But Campagna pointed out that pups mainly nurse from their mothers, and therefore would not be consuming infected birds. #H5N1
Europe Greenlights Two Avian Flu Vaccines (www.medscape.com)
The vaccines, Celldemic and Incellipan, protect against the H5N1 subtype of the influenza A virus. The Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use of the European Medicines Agency has recommended the approval of two vaccines for active immunization against the H5N1 subtype of the influenza A virus, which causes avian...