By Izzy Ross, Interlochen Public Radio
This coverage is made possible through a partnership withIPRandGrist, a nonprofit independent media organization dedicated to telling stories of climate solutions and a just future.
Laurie Stanek shovels hay in front of a group of young, black and white Holstein cows.
Were out here at 5 oclock every morning to get started feeding the babies, she said. In a nearby barn, she points to a small calf shakily getting to its feet.
That guy over there was yesterdays new one, she said. Theyre born about 100 pounds, 120 pounds.
Stanek has worked at her familys dairy farm in Antrim County for almost 50 years. Right now, they have about 200 milking cows.
This is among the Michigan farms that have to abide by new state and federal measures to protect their animals against the bird flu.
Officially called H5N1, this latest outbreak of the virus emerged in wild birds in Europe in 2020. In 2022, it was detected in commercial flocks in the United States. Its led to the deaths of tens of millions of farmed birds and infected many mammals, from sea lions to foxes.
The jump to cows is new.
The first reported case from cattle was in Texas earlier this year. And Michigan has reported the most cases of the bird flu in dairy herds in the country officials here say thats because of widespread testing. It also has two of the nations three confirmed cases of the disease in people (the other was a dairy worker in Texas).
Scientists say controlling the disease is important, because this latest jump to cattle could pose an increased threat to human health, as well as to other animals.
So far, nine states have confirmed the presence of bird flu in dairy herds, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Across the country, the response has been rocky. Some states have pushed back against federal efforts to address the virus. Public health experts have warned that the true reach is likely greater that official counts, and have raised concerns about the lack of testing. The federal government announced that it would spend $824 million on its response, and the USDA just launched a voluntary pilot program to test cow milk in bulk.
An extraordinary emergency
Last month, Michigan declared an extraordinary emergency. Officials said the flu is a threat to animal health, human health, trade and the economy. The states largest egg producer laid off 400 workers last month amid the outbreak. In cows, bird flu causes a reduction in milk production. It may also be passed from dairy facilities to poultry farms, where it could be deadly.
We want to make sure that were limiting the further spread of the virus, so that were continuing to protect human health, and we dont have so much virus in the environment that could potentially mutate and affect humans in a different way, said Tim Boring, the director of the state Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have maintained that the danger to the public is relatively low. But farm workers face increased risk of exposure to the bird flu; the CDC has said its likely that those who have tested positive contracted the virus from cows. The people who experienced the illness recently have reported mild symptoms.
Over the past month, farms have faced new state and federal biosecurity requirements. The USDA has required that lactating cows moving across state lines receive a negative test.
And Michigan has prohibited poultry or lactating cows from being shown at events like fairs, and says farms should limit the people and animals coming in.
Two rows of cows at the Stanek farm in Antrim County. June 3, 2024. (Photo: Izzy Ross/IPR News)
That aspect isnt a huge concern for the Stanek farm, which has whats called a closed herd.
We raise our own, so they dont come up against other herds that have been in other states or other places. So theyve all been raised here, Stanek said.
To lower the risk of infection, the state says farms should also name a biosecurity manager. The Staneks appointed one of their adult sons to that post, where hes responsible for designating a secure perimeter around the herd and keeping track of visitors.
How the illness moves
The question of how the virus has jumped from birds to cows is, so far, unanswered. And scientists say gaining a better understanding of how the bird flu moves between animals is critical to determining how to respond to this outbreak and plan for the next one.
Im a virologist by training, and my other virologist buddies and I all have to admit: None of us saw this coming, said Kim Dodd, the director of the Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory at Michigan State University.
We didnt expect to find [highly pathogenic] avian influenza in dairy cattle, and to find that it amplifies so well, and that we have so much virus in the milk, she said. And so thats really a big part of trying to understand, you know, what do we do about that to be able to help control the outbreak.
The milking equipment at the Stanek farm. June 3, 2024. (Photo: Izzy Ross/IPR News)
When poultry are exposed to or contract the bird flu, they usually either die from the disease or are euthanized, which generally stops the viral spread. Thats not the case for cows.
These guys recover after a period of seven to 10 days of mild to moderate illness, Dodd said. So those animals are still there and still producing virus while they recover, which gives individuals who are caring for them the opportunity to come into contact with that virus and potentially spread it themselves.
The climate factor
Looming in the background is climate change. Its role in this outbreak of H5N1 is unclear. But generally, research has shown that climate change could join a host of other factors in making the transmission of viruses between species more likely something called viral spillover.
Absolutely, as we see climates change, we see changes in migratory patterns and the timing of migratory patterns, Dodd said. To what degree climate change may have played a role in how long this outbreak has gone on, I think, remains to be seen.
As the climate warms, animals are pushed into new places at different times of year. That can create more opportunities for pathogens to infect new hosts. For example, the spread of tick populations has brought certain diseases to new places.
State agriculture officials say more safety measures on farms could become a bigger part of their approach to climate change.
Improving biosecurity in new ways that we hadnt previously considered, I think, will increasingly be a component of robust climate resiliency actions, said Boring, the director of Michigans agriculture department. So were seeing a little bit of that in real time here with our response to H5N1 here in the state.
Dodd said Michigans response so far has been relatively strong. And the fact that the state has seen so many positive cases among cattle is because its testing for them. That, critically, relies on collaboration between state and federal agencies and farmers.
That takes two sides, she said. It takes the people who are looking and the people who are testing, but it also requires that the people who own the animals are opening their doors and allowing testing to occur.
No dairy herds in northern Michigan have reported signs of bird flu yet, according to the state. But back in Antrim County, Laurie Stanek said dealing with animal sickness is just part of running a farm; theyre paying attention to the new rules and doing what theyve always done.
A lot of its just good herdsmanship just common sense, she said. You keep your animals healthy so they in turn give you a healthy product.
That, she said, is what their livelihood depends on.
Featured image: A group of Holstein cows jostle for hay at the farm run by Laurie Stanek and her family. June 3, 2024. (Photo: Izzy Ross/IPR News)
Updated at 12:05 p.m. ET on June 7, 2024
Our most recent flu pandemic2009s H1N1 swine fluwas, in absolute terms, a public-health crisis. By scientists best estimates, roughly 200,000 to 300,000 people around the world died; countless more fell sick. Kids, younger adults, and pregnant people were hit especially hard.
That said, it could have been far worse. Of the known flu pandemics, 2009s took the fewest lives; during the H1N1 pandemic that preceded it, which began in 1918, a flu virus infected an estimated 500 million people worldwide, at least 50 million of whom died. Even some recent seasonal flus have killed more people than swine flu did. With swine flu, we got lucky, Seema Lakdawala, a virologist at Emory University, told me. H5N1 avian flu, which has been transmitting wildly among animals, has not yet spread in earnest among humans. Should that change, though, the worlds next flu pandemic might not afford us the same break.
Read: Cows have almost certainly infected more than two people with bird flu
Swine flu caught scientists by surprise. At the time, many researchers were dead certain that an H5N1, erupting out of somewhere in Asia, would be the next Big Bad Flu. Their focus was on birds; hardly anyone was watching the pigs. But the virus, a descendant of the devastating flu strain that caused the 1918 pandemic, found its way into swine and rapidly gained the ability to hack into human airway cells. It was also great at traveling airbornefeatures that made it well positioned to wreak global havoc, Lakdawala said. By the time experts caught on to swine flus true threat, we were already seeing a ton of human cases, Nahid Bhadelia, the founding director of the Boston University Center on Emerging Infectious Diseases, told me. Researchers had to scramble to catch up. But testing was intermittent, and reporting of cases was inconsistent, making it difficult for scientists to get a handle on the viruss spread. Months passed before the rollout of a new vaccine began, and uptake was meager. Even in well-resourced countries such as the U.S., few protections hindered the viruss initial onslaught.
But the worst never came to passfor reasons that experts still dont understand. Certainly, compared with the 1918 pandemic, or even those in the 1950s and 60s, modern medicine was better equipped to test for and treat flu; although vaccine uptake has never been perfect, the availability of any shots increased protection overall, Sam Scarpino, an infectious-disease modeler and the director of AI and life sciences at Northeastern University, told me. Subtler effects may have played a role too. Other H1N1 viruses had been circulating globally since the late 1970s, potentially affording much of the population a degree of immunity, Troy Sutton, a virologist at Pennsylvania State University, told me. Older people, especially, may have harbored an extra dose of defense, from additional exposure to H1N1 strains from the first half of the 20th century. (After the 1918 pandemic, versions of that virus stuck around, and continued to percolate through the population for decades.) Those bonus safeguards might help explain why younger people were so severely affected in 2009, Lakdawala told me.
Some of those same factors could end up playing a role in an H5N1 epidemic. But 2009 represents an imperfect templateespecially when so much about this new avian flu remains unclear. True human-to-human spread of H5N1 is still a distant possibility: For that, the virus would almost certainly need to undergo some major evolutionary alterations to its genome, potentially even transforming into something almost unrecognizable. All of this muddies any predictions about how a future outbreak might unfold.
Still, experts are keeping a close eye on a few factors that could raise H5N1s risks. For instance, no versions of H5N1 flu have ever gained a sustained foothold in people, which means theres very little immunity in the community, Michael Osterholm, the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, told me.
Exposure to other flu strains could offer limited protection. Lakdawala and Sutton have been running experiments in ferrets, which transmit and fall ill with flu much like people do. Their preliminary results suggest that animals with previous exposures to seasonal-flu strains experience milder disease when theyre next hit with this particular H5N1. That said, ferrets with zero prior flu experiencewhich would be the case for some very young kidsfare poorly, worse than they do with the H1N1 of 2009, and thats scary, Lakdawala told me.
Its too early to say how those results would translate into people, for whom data are sparse. Since this H5N1 virus was first detected in the 1990s, scientists have recorded hundreds of human cases, nearly half of whom have died. (Avian flus that spill intermittently into people often have this kind of nasty track record: This week, the WHO reported that another kind of bird flu, designated H5N2, killed a man in Mexico in late April. It was the flu subtypes first recorded instance in a human; no evidence suggests yet that this virus has the ability to spread among people, either.) Experts caution strongly against reading too much into the stats: No one can be certain how many people the virus has actually infected, making it impossible to estimate a true fatality rate. The virus has also shape-shifted over decadesand the versions of it that killed those people did not seem capable of spreading among them. As Sutton pointed out, past experiments suggest that the mutations that could make H5 viruses more transmissible might also make them a bit less deadly. Thats not a guarantee, however: The 1918 flu, for instance, transmitted really well in humans and caused very severe disease, Sutton said.
Read: Americas infectious-disease barometer is off
Scientists also cant extrapolate much from the fact that recent H5N1 infections among dairy workers in the U.S. have been documented as mild. Many people who work on farms are relatively young and healthy, Bhadelia noted; plus, their exposures have, presumably, been through virus-laden raw milk. The virus could affect a different community in more dramatic ways, and the nature of the disease could shift if the virus entered the body via another route. And mildness in the short term isnt always a comfort, Scarpino said: As with COVID, the disease could still have chronic consequences for someones health.
The world is in some ways better prepared for H5N1 than it was in 2009. Scientists have had eyes on this particular avian flu for decades; in the past few years alone, theyve watched it hopscotch into dozens of animal species, and tracked the genetic tweaks its made. Already, U.S. experts are testing for the pathogen in wastewater, and federal regulators have taken action to halt its spread in poultry and livestock. H5 vaccines are stockpiled, and more are on the waya pipeline that may be speedier than ever before, thanks to the recent addition of mRNA tech.
Read: The bird-flu host we should worry about
But this close to the worst days of the COVID-19 pandemic, Osterholm and others worry that halting any outbreak will be harder than it otherwise would have been. We could see many, many individuals refusing to get a vaccine, he said. (That may be especially true if two doses are required for protection.) Bhadelia echoed that concern, adding that shes already seeing a deluge of misinformation on social media. And Scarpino noted that, after the raging debates over COVID-era school closures, legislators may refuse to entertain the option againeven though children are some of the best conduits for flu viruses. Stopping a pandemic requires trust, coordination, and public buy-in. On that front alone, Osterholm said, without a doubt, I think were less prepared.
The world has a track record of not taking flu seriouslyeven, sometimes, when it sparks a pandemic. In the months following the initial outbreaks of swine flu, the outbreak was mocked as a nothingburger; public-health officials were criticized for crying wolf. But the arguably mild flu epidemic still filled hospital emergency departments with pneumonia cases, spreading the virus to scores of health-care workers; kids still fell sick in droves. So many young people died that, in terms of years of life lost, Osterholm told me, the toll of 2009 still exceeded those of the flu pandemics that began in 1957 and 1968. Nor are comparisons with seasonal flus exactly a comfort: Most years, those epidemics kill tens of thousands of people in the U.S. alone.
H5N1 could also permanently alter the worlds annual flu burden. An avian-flu pandemic could present the perfect opportunity for this virus to join the other flus that transmit seasonallybecoming endemic threats that may be with us for good. Weve seen that with every flu pandemic thats occurred, Sutton told me. More circulating flu viruses could mean more flu cases each yearor, perhaps, more chances for these viruses to mingle their genetic material and generate new versions of themselves to which the population lacks immunity.
However likely those possibilities are, halting H5N1s spread now would preclude all of them. Scientists have foresight on this avian flu in a way they never did with pre-pandemic swine flu. Capitalizing on that differenceperhaps the most important one between these two fluscould keep us from experiencing another outbreak at all.
Austin Public Health said there is a low risk to the community at this time.
AUSTIN, Texas The first reports of the avian flu have been found in the Austin area.
According to Austin Public Health (APH), H5N1, sometimes called Influenza A, was recently locatedin the city's wastewater system.
Despite this, APH said there is no apparent threat to the public at this time and no instances have been detected in humans in the city.
Avian flu, or bird flu, was detected in cattle on three dairy farms in the Texas Panhandle earlier this spring.
In March, a West Texas farmworker contracted the disease after working with infected dairy cattle. Then in May, the illness was also found in a person in Michigan.
H5N1 found in wastewater often comes from birds, livestock and secretion from cows or other impacted animals, according to APH.
When humans are infected, the virus often spreads through the eyes, nose or mouth, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
Although avian flu has only been detected in three humans in the U.S., it's still important to be aware of the signs and symptoms to look out for.
Some of the most common concerns include a fever, sore throat, eye redness, nausea and seizures, according to Texas Health and Human Services.
APH said all instances of the illness in the U.S. have so far been mild.
In general, stay away from any sick or dead animals, as well as areas that have been contaminated by feces.
If you do come into contact with dead birds infected by the disease, APH recommends wearing masks, gloves or other protective materials.
When handling eggs, meat and poultry in particular, make sure to wash your hands for 20 seconds or more.
Additionally, do not consume raw milk, cheese or any other unpasteurized foods or drinks.
By taking these precautions, you can avoid the spread of avian flu to others throughout the country.
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Against a backdrop of low-volume but growing concerns about bird flu, the National Institutes of Healths (NIH's) infectious disease arm has laid out its plans to study the virus that causes the illness.
In a document (PDF) released publicly June 5, the NIHs National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) explained that it planned to track the H5N1 viruss evolution, study its clinical course and come up with prevention, diagnostic and treatment strategies.
The agenda hits on all the right issues, Nigel Sizer, Ph.D., executive director of the Preventing Pandemics at the Source initiative, told Fierce Biotech Research in an email.
The new effort builds upon existing work, Sizer pointed out. Even before the virus was discovered in cattle, organizations like the NIAID-funded influenza research network Centers of Excellence for Influenza Research and Response have been tracking viruses in the same family.
I would say NIAID has been very much on-the-ball in regard to H5-related research, Sizer wrote.
H5N1 has periodically captured the attention of the media and public health officials in outbreaks among people who handle poultry. But, on March 25, 2024, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported the virus had for the first time spread to cows, causing a multistate outbreak on dairy farms. Then, on April 1, the agency announced an infection in a person who was exposed to cattle. Two more infections have since been reported, including one with symptoms.
The CDC maintains that the risk to the general public is low. No one who has contracted H5N1 in the current outbreak has died, though about half of the 909 cases reported between 1997 and late April 2024 were fatal, according to the health agency. Given that all the people infected by cows were in direct contact with the animals, it doesnt seem like the virus can be transmitted between humansyet.
Part of NIAIDs H5N1 research agenda includes preparing for that possibility. The agencys effort will characterize how the virus is transmittedincluding whether it can be carried from host to host via infected milk productsand monitoring to make sure that any cases of human-to-human transmissionare caught quickly. NIAID will also attempt to develop a universal vaccine that works against not only H5N1 but most other flu strains, too, as well as broad-spectrum antivirals and antibody-based preexposure prophylaxis or treatments.
Still, there is one area in which NIAIDs effort is lacking, one expert told Fierceresearch into reducing the likelihood of a flu virus emerging from livestock in the first place.
[The program] is very extensive when it comes to research into how to respond to emergence, particularly once it has affected humans, Dirk Pfiffer, Ph.D., a veterinarian and professor at City University of Hong Kong, said. But it does, in my view, not adequately address research that is aimed at reducing the likelihood of such emergence within livestock production systems and the ability to detect and contain it early.
Fierce has reached out to NIAID for comment.
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Highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza viruses are becoming increasingly flexible and are adapting to mammals in new ways that could have global consequences for humans, wildlife, and livestock, according to a new study.
Researchers investigated a massive outbreak among elephant seals in Argentina in 2023. Their study shows clear mammal-to-mammal transmission of the virus.
The study states the outbreak is the first known, multinational transmission of the virus in mammals ever observed globally, with the same virus appearing in several pinniped species across different countries over a short period of time.
The studys genomic analysis showed the virus is now evolving into separate avian and marine mammal clades in South America, which is unprecedented. There is growing concern that H5N1 viruses adapted to mammal transmission could jump to other species, including people.
This is increased evidence that we should be alert, especially for marine mammals, says co-leading author Marcela Uhart, a veterinarian with the University of California, Davis Karen C. Drayer Wildlife Health Center and its Latin America Program. The more it adapts to mammals the more important it becomes for humans.
The current variant of H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b began to cause problems at a global scale in 2020. While humans confronted the COVID-19 pandemic, H5N1, or avian influenza, began killing tens of thousands of seabirds in Europe before moving to South Africa. In 2022, it entered the US and Canada, threatening poultry and wild birds, and then spread to South America in late 2022.
By February 2023, highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) was detected in Argentina for the first time, affecting poultry primarily in inland central Argentina for five months.
By August 2023, after two months of no outbreaks in poultry, the virus was found in sea lions at the tip of South America off the Atlantic coastline of Tierra del Fuego island.
From there, it moved swiftly northward, with deadly results, first for marine mammals and later for seabirds.
In October 2023, following outbreaks in sea lions, the study authors surveyed a breeding colony of elephant seals at Punta Delgada along the coast of Pennsula Valds, Argentina. They recorded unprecedented mass mortalitysome 17,000 elephant seals were dead. By November, 96% of pups born that season would die. Test results confirmed that HPAI H5N1 was present in the seals as well as in several terns that died at the same time.
The virus separation into avian and marine mammal clades unfolded as H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4bspecifically genotype B3.2arrived on the continent through migratory birds before spilling over to mammals. It then separated from the avian clade virus to become its own, marine mammal-adapted virus. Concerningly, while the virus moves across pinnipeds, it can also still infect birds. That was evident in the study, where the virus found in terns was identical to that from elephant seals.
Were showing the evolution of this marine mammal virus over time, says virologist and co-leading author Agustina Rimondi of INTA. This virus is capable of adapting to mammals, as we can see from the mutations that are consistently found in the viruses belonging to the mammalian clade.
Influenza viruses commonly mutate and exchange gene segments, enabling them to adapt to new hosts.
Uhart and Rimondi says it is critically important that monitoring and investigation continue to better understand the consequences of the virus to human health, wildlife conservation, and ecology.
The study appears online as a preprint.
Additional coauthors are from the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine; the National Institutes of Health; INTA-CONICET; the Wildlife Conservation Society in Argentina; and Rega Institute in Belgium.
Funding for the study came from the Wildlife Conservation Society, UC Davis, and National Institute of Agricultural Technology
Source: UC Davis
Editor's Note: This story was updated on June 10, 2024, to note that Mexican authorities said the main died of chronic disease, not avian flu.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has confirmed that a 59-year-old Mexican man with no known exposure to infected animals has died after being infected with the H5N2 subtype of avian flu.
Mexico's Ministry of Health said the man, who died in April, was infected with H5N2 but died from other, underlying causes. He had chronic kidney disease, type 2 diabetes, and high blood pressure, which contributed to his death, the ministry said.
The WHO said the fatality does not change the current risk assessment to human healthlowfor H5N2.
The case-patient first developed fever, shortness of breath, and diarrhea on April 17, seeking medical care on April 24 at the National Institute of Respiratory Diseases in Mexico City. He was hospitalized and died the same day. A respiratory sample collected on April 24 indicated a non-subtypeable influenza A virus. and the Mexico National Influenza Centre confirmed the influenza subtype was A(H5N2) on May 22.
According to the Mexican Ministry of Health, the patient had a number of comorbidities, including chronic kidney disease, type 2 diabetes, and long-standing systemic arterial hypertension.
To date, 17 hospital contacts and 12 contacts who lived near the persons residence have all tested negative for SARS-CoV-2, influenza A, and influenza B, as determined by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Serologic tests are still pending.
"Due to the constantly evolving nature of influenza viruses, WHO continues to stress the importance of global surveillance," the WHO said.
Though how the man contracted the virus is unknown, Mexico did report a H5N2 outbreak on a backyard poultry farm in the state of Michoacan, which borders the state where the patient lived, the WHO said.
Because new H5N1 crossover cases have been reported in a number of mammal species across North America, scientists have warned that human cases could follow. The United Stateshas reported four human cases of H5N1, three of whom had exposure to dairy cows and one who had exposure to infected poultry.
So far, all US cases have been mild.
Yesterday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated the current situation summary on H5N1 outbreaks in poultry and US dairy cows.
"While the current public health risk is low, CDC is watching the situation carefully and working with states to monitor people with animal exposures," the CDC said.
While the current public health risk is low, CDC is watching the situation carefully and working with states to monitor people with animal exposures,
Eighty-one dairy herds in nine states were infected as of yesterday, but that number increased today by two as Minnesota and Iowa announced their first detections of avian flu in dairy cattle.
In Minnesota, at least 40 animals in a Benton County dairy herd now have fevers, after only a handful of animals started showing signs of illness last weekend.
"We knew it was only a matter of time before this detection would reach our doorstep," said State Veterinarian Brian Hoefs, DVM, in a statement from the Minnesota Board of Animal Health. "Its important for dairy farmers to follow the example of this herd and test sick cows. The more the animal health community can learn about this virus today through testing and research, the better we can equip ourselves to prevent infections tomorrow."
According to the statement, avian flu symptoms in dairy mostly affect late-stage lactating cows and include fever, a drop in milk production, loss of appetite, and changes in manure consistency.
In Iowa, state officials have confirmed the virus in a dairy herd in OBrien County.
In addition to the new detections in Minnesota and Iowa, two more infections in herds in Texas yesterday raised the outbreak total to 86.
A person in Mexico has died after catching the first known human case of H5N2 bird flu.
The fatal case marks the first time someone in Mexico has been sickened by any type of influenza A(H5) virus, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported Wednesday (June 5). This broad category of virus also includes the one currently circulating among U.S. dairy cows, called H5N1, which recently sickened three people who had close contact with cattle.
When it's caused sporadic infections in people, H5N1 has led to severe pneumonia and death in at least 50% of cases. The recent fatality in Mexico shows that H5N2 can also be deadly to humans.
The spread of bird flu to people is concerning, in part, because these viruses can be deadly. Another reason for concern is that the more times bird flu jumps into people, the more chances it has to pick up mutations and gain the ability to spread easily between humans. As of yet, no A(H5) viruses can sustainably spread from person to person, the WHO reported but that could change in the future.
Related: 'Increased evidence that we should be alert': H5N1 bird flu is adapting to mammals in 'new ways'
For now, though, "based on available information, WHO assesses the current risk to the general population posed by this virus [H5N2] as low," the agency reported.
The recent case in Mexico involved a 59-year-old who developed fever, shortness of breath, diarrhea, nausea and general malaise in mid-April. The person sought medical treatment at a Mexico City hospital on April 24 but died the same day "due to complications of his condition." The individual had multiple underlying conditions and had already been bedridden for other reasons for three weeks prior to developing any bird flu symptoms, his relatives reported.
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A sample of the patient's respiratory fluids, taken April 24, revealed he'd had H5N2. The virus is similar to H5N1, in that both viruses carry the same type of protein H5 on their surfaces, but a second protein called neuraminidase (N) is a slightly different shape on each virus.
According to the WHO, the person had had no recent contact with poultry or other animals; typically, people catch bird flu through contact with sick or dead animals, or from contact with materials those animals contaminated with the virus. Notably, H5N2 viruses have recently been spreading among poultry in Mexico, raising an opportunity for the virus to spread to people. Authorities in Mexico are still investigating the potential source of the patient's fatal infection.
So far, none of the person's close contacts have tested positive for bird flu, and there's no evidence the virus has spread between people. "This case does not change the current WHO recommendations on public health measures and surveillance of influenza," the agency reiterated in its statement.
Since people generally catch A(H5) viruses from animals or from handling those animals' bodily fluids, you can reduce the risk of bird flu by avoiding sick and dead animals and regularly washing your hands with soap and water. In the U.S., dairy workers have been advised to wear personal protective equipment around potentially sick animals, as an additional safety measure, and authorities have also emphasized that drinking raw milk could pose a risk to consumers.
Again, the risk of transmission to the general public is low and overall these bird flu infections are rare. Should you catch an A(H5) virus, existing drugs for seasonal flu can help treat the infection.
This article is for informational purposes only and is not meant to offer medical advice.
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DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) Earlier this week, the World Health Organization reported the first case of a person dying due to the bird flu.
The incident happened in Mexico. That virus strain has not yet been found in the United States.
2 NEWS spoke with Premier Health Regional Medical Director Dr. Joseph Allen about the potential risks we face from bird flu in the Miami Valley.
Watch the interview in the video player above.
Avian influenza, commonly known as bird flu is back in the news again at least four states in India: Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Kerala and Jharkhand have already reported outbreaks among poultry. The Centre has asked all States to be vigilant, and said all necessary measures have to be taken to prevent its spread.
Its not just in India that bird flu is in the news though the United States has been battling this problem as the infection has now spread to cattle herds in several states in that country.
The World Health Organisation recently said that A (H5N1) strain of avian influenza has become a global zoonotic animal pandemic with thousands of animals infected across multiple countries.
While so far there is no evidence that H5N1 virus is spreading from human to human, the risk remains for people who come into contact with infected animals.
Two cases were in the headlines recently one of a child who was diagnosed with H5N1 in Australia where she had just returned after a trip to Kolkata, and another case in Mexico, where a man died of a strain of bird flu called H5N2, which had never before been found in humans.
What are the ramifications of bird flu in India? Who is vulnerable to the disease and how can its transmission be curtailed? How do we ensure the safety of eggs, chicken and other animal products? And does India need reforms in its poultry and animal food sector to ensure better safety of animal and human health?
Guest: Dr Subramanian Swaminathan, Director of Infectious diseases at Gleneagles Hospital. Vice president clinical infectious diseases society of India.
Host: Zubeda Hamid
Edited by Jude Francis Weston
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According to a report in the Financial Times, Moderna's combined COVID-19 and flu vaccine has demonstrated efficacy equivalent to that of separate shots in late-stage trials, according to results published on Monday. The phase 3 trial, involving over 8,000 adults aged 50 and older, showed that the combination vaccine was as effective as Moderna's standalone COVID-19 vaccine and two widely used flu vaccines, Fluzone and Fluarix. The combined shot also exhibited higher efficacy against three specific flu strains, including H1N1 swine flu.
Moderna plans to publish the interim data in a peer-reviewed journal and submit it for US regulatory approval later this year, with an FDA decision potentially coming by next summer. If approved, Moderna aims to launch the first combined COVID-19 and flu shot by the 2025 winter season. The combined vaccine also demonstrated an acceptable safety and tolerability profile.
CEO Stphane Bancel highlighted the market potential, noting that the convenience of a single shot could increase vaccine uptake, especially among those hesitant about multiple injections. This new product could allow Moderna to access the $8 billion seasonal flu vaccine market, which is larger than the market for COVID-19 vaccines.
The announcement comes as Moderna's share price has increased by 37% this year, driven by investor interest in its H5 pandemic flu vaccine candidate and broader efforts to diversify its mRNA-based vaccine portfolio. Moderna's stock, though still down about 67% from its peak during the pandemic, has been buoyed by recent positive developments, including the approval of a vaccine targeting respiratory syncytial virus.
