Influenza A viruses of various subtypes have a large reservoir in wild waterfowl. They are also known to infect and transmit among humans and in some other species or groups (domestic poultry, swine, horses, dogs, and bats). Influenza A virus subtypes currently circulating among people are A(H3N2) and A(H1N1) viruses. Examples of different influenza A virus subtypes currently circulating in animals include A(H1N1), A(H1N2), and A(H3N2) in pigs (different virus strains than those subtypes found in humans), A(H3N8) in horses, A(H3N2) in dogs, and A(H5N1) in wild water birds, domestic poultry, and dairy cattle. Influenza A viruses that can infect and regularly transmit among wild water birds and domestic poultry are called avian influenza viruses.
Influenza A viruses that typically circulate in wild aquatic birds can sometimes cause illness in another species (for example: pigs). Additionally, influenza A viruses from humans may be transmitted to pigs. For example, before 1998, only A(H1N1) viruses circulated widely in the U.S. pig population. However, in 1998, A(H3N2) viruses from humans were introduced into the pig population and caused widespread disease among pigs. More recently, avian influenza A viruses from birds have caused sporadic infections in mammals in the United States and in other countries and in United States dairy cattle.
Avian influenza A (bird flu) viruses may be transmitted from infected birds to other animals, and potentially to humans, in two main ways:
In birds, avian influenza A viruses infect the respiratory and gastrointestinal tract and are shed in feces. Direct infection of wild birds, poultry, and mammals can occur from exposure to saliva, mucous, or feces from infected birds. Avian influenza A virus infections among people arerare because currently circulating avian influenza A viruses do not have the ability to easily bind to receptors in the human upper respiratory tract.
However, human infections with avian influenza A viruses can happen when enough virus gets into a persons eyes, nose or mouth, or is inhaled. This can happen when virus is in the air (in droplets or possibly dust) and a person breathes it in, or when a person touches something that has virus on it and then touches their mouth, eyes or nose. Avian influenza A virusinfections in people happen most often after close, prolonged and unprotected (no gloves or other protective wear) contact with infected birds or other animals. People with close or prolonged contact with infected birds or animals or their contaminated environments are at greater risk of infection.
Influenza A viruses have eight separate gene segments. The segmented genome allows influenza A viruses from different species to mix genes (genetic reassortment) and create a new virus if influenza A viruses from two different species infect the same person or animal at the same time.
One possible way that virus reassortment could occur is if an animal or human were infected with a human influenza A virus and an avian influenza A virus at the same time. The new replicating viruses could reassort and produce a new influenza A virus that had some genes from the human virus and some genes from the avian virus. The resulting new virus might then be able to infect humans and spread easily from person to person, but it could have surface proteins (hemagglutinin and/or neuraminidase) different than those currently found in influenza viruses that routinely circulate in humans this could make it seem like a new influenza virus to people, one that had not been encountered before. Specifically, the term antigenic shift is applied to a new influenza A virus for which most people have little or no immune protection. If this new influenza A virus causes illness in people, is transmitted easily from person to person in a sustained manner, and if most people lack immunity to the new virus, an influenza pandemic can occur.
In the spring of 2009, a novel A(H1N1) virus emerged to infect people and quickly spread, causing an influenza pandemic. This virus had genes that were descended from viruses circulating in swine which were the result of reassortment between viruses from North American and Eurasian swine. It is also theoretically possible that the process of genetic reassortment could occur in an animal or person who is co-infected with an avian influenza A virus, or a swine influenza A virus, and a seasonal (human) influenza A virus. The genes of these viruses could reassort to create a new influenza A virus with a hemagglutinin and/or neuraminidase gene from the avian or swine influenza A virus and other genes from the seasonal influenza A virus. Viruses with such hemagglutinin and/or neuraminidase genes could potentially cause a pandemic if people lacked immunity against them, and the virus was able to spread easily from person to person in a sustained manner. Therefore, careful evaluation of influenza A viruses recovered from humans and animals who are not usually infected with avian influenza A viruses is important to identify genetic reassortment if it occurs.
Although it is unusual for people to get influenza A virus infections directly from animals, sporadic human infections and outbreaks caused by certain avian influenza A virusesand swine influenza A viruseshave occurred.
Topline
Heres 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 but deadly.
A sign warns of a outbreak of bird flu.
May 16The USDA conducted a study, and discovered that after high levels of the virus was injected into beef, no trace was left after the meat was cooked medium to well done, though the virus was found in meat cooked to lower temperatures.
May 14The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released influenza A waste water data for the weeks ending in April 27 and May 4, and found several states like Alaska, California, Florida, Illinois and Kansas had unusually high levels, though the agency isnt sure if the virus came from humans or animals, and isnt able to differentiate between influenza A subtypes, meaning the H5N1 virus or other subtypes may have been detected.
May 10The Food and Drug Administration announced it will commit an additional $8 million to ensure the commercial milk supply is safe, while the Department of Agriculture said it will pay up to $28,000 per farm to help mitigate the spread of the disease, totaling around $98 million in funds.
May 9Some 70 people in Colorado are being monitored for bird flu due to potential exposure, and will be tested for the virus if they show any symptoms, the Colorado Department of Public Health told Forbesit was not immediately clear how or when the people were potentially exposed.
May 1The Department of Agriculture said it tested 30 grocery store ground beef products for bird flu and they all came back negative, reaffirming the meat supply is safe.
May 1The Food and Drug Administration confirmed dairy products are still safe to consume, announcing it tested grocery store samples of products like infant formula, toddler milk, sour cream and cottage cheese, and no live traces of the bird flu virus were found, although some dead remnants were found in some of the foodthough none in the baby products.
April 30Wenqing Zhang, head of the World Health Organization's Global Influenza Programme, said during a news briefing "there is a risk for cows in other countries to be getting infected," with the bird flu virus, since its commonly spread through the movement of migratory birds.
April 29The Department of Agriculture told Forbes it will begin testing ground beef samples from grocery stores in states with cow outbreaks, and test ground beef cooked at different temperatures and infected with the virus to determine if it's safe to eat.
April 24The USDA said cow-to-cow transmission may be occurring due to the cows coming into contact with raw milkand warned against humans and other animals, including pets, consuming unpasteurized milk to prevent potential infection.
April 18Jeremy Farrar, chief scientist for the World Health Organization, said during a press conference the threat of bird flu spreading between humans was a great concern, since its evolved and has increasingly been infecting mammals (on land and sea), which means it could possibly spread to humans.
April 1The CDC reported the second U.S. human case of bird flu in a Texas dairy farmer who became infected after contracting the virus from infected dairy cows, but said the person was already recovering.
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Bird flu doesnt transmit easily from person-to-person, according to the World Health Organization. Bird flu rarely affects humans, and most previous cases came from close contact with infected poultry, according to the CDC. Because human-to-human spread of bird flu poses pandemic potential, each human case is investigated to rule out this type of infection. Though none have been confirmed, there are a few global casesnone in the U.S.where human-to-human transmission of bird flu was thought to be probable, including in China, Thailand, Indonesia and Pakistan.
It is very deadly. Between January 2003 and March 28, 2024 there have been 888 human cases of bird flu infection in humans, according to a report by the World Health Organization. Of those 888 cases, 463 (52%) died. To date, only two people in the U.S. have contracted H5N1 bird flu, and they both were infected after coming into contact with sick animals. The most recent case was a dairy worker in Texas who became ill in March after interacting with sick dairy cows, though he only experienced pink eye. The first incident happened in 2022 when a person in Colorado contracted the disease from infected poultry, and fully recovered.
Raw, unpasteurized milk is unsafe to drink, but pasteurized milk is fine, according to the FDA. Bird flu has been detected in both unpasteurized and pasteurized milk, but the FDA recommends manufacturers against making and selling unpasteurized milk since theres a possibility consuming it may cause bird flu infection. However, the virus remnants in pasteurized milk have been deactivated by the heat during the pasteurization process, so this type of milk is still believed safe to consume.
The CDC warns against eating raw meat or eggs from animals confirmed or suspected of having bird flu because of the possibility of transmission. However, no human has ever been infected with bird flu from eating properly prepared and cooked meat, according to the agency. The possibility of infected meat entering the food supply is extremely low due to rigorous inspection, so properly handled and cooked meat is safe to eat, according to the USDA. To know when meat is properly cooked, whole beef cuts must be cooked to an internal temperature of 145 degrees Fahrenheit, ground meat must be 160 degrees and poultry must be cooked to 165 degrees. Rare and medium rare steaks fall below this temperature. Properly cooked eggs with an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit kills bacteria and viruses including bird flu, according to the CDC. It doesnt matter if they may or may not have [avian] influenza runny eggs and rare pieces of meat are never recommended, Francisco Diez-Gonzalez, director and professor for the Center for Food Safety at the University of Georgia, told Forbes. To play it safe, consumers should only eat fully cooked eggs and make sure the yolks are firm with no runny parts, Daisy May, veterinary surgeon with U.K.-based company Medivet, said.
Symptoms of bird flu include a fever, cough, headache, chills, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, runny nose, congestion, sore throat, nausea or vomiting, diarrhea, pink eye, muscle aches and headache. However, the CDC advises it cant be diagnosed based on symptoms alone, and laboratory testing is needed. This typically includes swabbing the nose or throat (the upper respiratory tract), or the lower respiratory tract for critically ill patients.
This years egg prices have increased as production decreased due to bird flu outbreaks among poultry, according to the USDA. A dozen large, grade A eggs in the U.S. costed around $2.99 in March, up almost a dollar from the fall. However, this price is down from a record $4.82 in January 2023, which was also spiked by bird flu outbreaks. Earlier this month, Cal-Maine Foodsthe countrys largest egg producertemporarily halted egg production after over one million egg-laying hens and chickens were killed after being infected with bird flu.
Once chickens have been infected with bird flu, farmers quickly kill them to help control the spread of the virus, since bird flu is highly contagious and fatal in poultry. The USDA pays farmers for all birds and eggs that have to be killed because of bird flu, as an incentive to responsibly try and curb the spread of the disease. The USDA has spent over $1 billion in bird flu compensation for farmers since 2022, according to the nonprofit Food & Environment Reporting Network.
The FDA has approved a few bird flu vaccines for humans. The U.S. has a stockpile of vaccines for H5N1 bird flu, but it wouldnt be enough to vaccinate all Americans if an outbreak were to happen among humans. If a human outbreak does occur, the government plans to mass produce vaccines, which can take at least six months to make enough for the entire population. Sequirs, the maker of one of the approved vaccines, expects to have 150 million vaccines ready within six months of an announcement of a human bird flu pandemic. Although there are approved vaccines for other variants designed for birds, there are none for the H5N1 variant circulating. However, the USDA began trials on H5N1 animal-specific vaccines in 2023.
As of May 14, more than 90 million poultry (primarily chickens) in 48 states have been euthanized because of bird flu since 2022, and 46 dairy cow herds across nine states have tested positive, according to data from the CDC (unlike chickens, cows appear to recover from the virus). The USDA believes wild migratory birds are the original source of the cow outbreaks that recently has experts concerned it may mutate and spread more easily in humans, though the CDC said its risk to the public remains low. Farrar called the cattle infections in the U.S. a huge concern, urging public health officials to continue closely monitoring the situation because it may evolve into transmitting in different ways. The increased number of mammal bird flu infections since 2022 could indicate that the virus is looking for new hosts, and of course, moving closer to people, Andrea Garcia, vice president of science, medicine and public health for the American Medical Association, said. More than 10 human bird flu cases were reported to the World Health Organization in 2023, and all but one survived. Bird flu has devastated bird populations, and 67 countries reported the deaths of 131 million poultry in 2022 alone. Although bird flu typically infects wild birds and poultry, its spread to other animals during the outbreak, and at least 10 countries have reported outbreaks in mammals since 2022. Around 17,400 elephant seal pups died from bird flu in Argentina in 2023, and at least 24,000 sea lions died in South America the same year. Besides cattle, bird flu has been detected in over 200 other mammalslike seals, raccoons and bearsin the U.S. since 2022. Although rare, even domestic pets like dogs and cats are susceptible to the virus, and the FDA warns against giving unpasteurized milk to cats to avoid possible transmission.
WHO Warns Threat Of Bird Flu Spreading To Humans Is Great Concern (Forbes)
One In Five Milk Samples From Across US Had Traces Of Bird Flu Virus, FDA Says (Forbes)
Can Pets Get Bird Flu? Heres What To Know (Forbes)
Avian H5N1 (Bird) Flu: Why Experts Are WorriedAnd What You Should Know (Forbes)
Bird flu, also known as the H5N1 virus, has infected cattle in nine states, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
To track the spread of the disease, the CDC has begun reporting wastewater data.
Although it has affected millions of birds and other animals in the last 2 years, its risk to humans is still considered low. Just one person in the U.S. has developed H5N1 in recent months.
Since January 2022 in the U.S., the H5N1 virus has killed over 90 million birds across 48 states.
It also sporadically jumped into mammal species in the U.S., including mountain lions, bears, bobcats, coyotes, raccoons, minks, and skunks.
More recently, the virus has moved into a new host: cattle. Although cattle are less seriously affected than other species, this can make it harder to track where the disease is spreading.
Because the virus rarely kills cows, infected animals can continue to live among their herd, providing more opportunities for the virus to pass to other cattle and species.
In April 2024, the United States recorded its first cow-to-human transmission of H5N1 in a dairy farm worker in Texas. This is only the second human case of H5N1 to be identified in the U.S. ever; the first was in 2022.
So far, there has been no recorded human-to-human transmission of the virus.
Krzysztof Pyr, PhD, a professor of biological sciences and leader of the Virology Laboratory at the Malopolska Centre of Biotechnology at the Jagiellonian University in Poland said that the first human cases of H5N1 were discovered in the 1990s.
Since then, he explained, roughly 1,000 cases have been recorded in humans, approximately 50% of which were fatal.
Since 2020, we have a new subtype that is much more transmissible, causing a pandemic in birds with multiple outbreaks recorded worldwide, he said.
This includes infections in mammals, including marine mammals in South America, farmed foxes in Finland, and cats in Poland.
The CDC considers the threat posed to people by H5N1 to be low, but they are closely monitoring the outbreak. They have launched a new dashboard monitoring wastewater.
Their National Wastewater Surveillance System (NWSS) takes data from more than 600 sites across the U.S. and compares current levels of the virus with those from 2023.
According to the CDC, most wastewater monitoring cannot tell the difference between H5N1 and other types of influenza A viruses. However, detecting large differences between this years levels and the levels from 2023 is a signal that H5N1 is involved.
Compared with last years data, during the week ending the 4th of May, levels of influenza A viruses were above average in 10 sampling regions out of 230:
Levels of the virus were deemed high in one region:
To date, nine states have identified H5N1 outbreaks in cattle:
A recent paper from the Texas Epidemic Public Health Institute identified nine cities in Texas where H5N1 was detected in the wastewater between March 4th and April 25th. The paper is a pre-print and has yet to be published in a peer-reviewed journal.
The research used data from the Texas Wastewater Environmental Biomonitoring Network (TexWEB network) which focuses on the early detection of pathogens.
For approximately 2 years, TexWEB has been monitoring the wastewater of multiple municipalities across Texas, the study authors said in an emailed statement.
Using genetic information, the researchers can monitor the levels and sequence of hundreds or even thousands of viruses in a single sample.
The study authors told Healthline that, until March 2024, they had not identified any H5N1 viruses. However, After early March, they explained, we have seen H5N1 in multiple sites and we continue to see H5N1 up until the most recent sampling.
The Texas-based researchers told Healthline that data from wastewater acts as an early sentinel signal of where known or emerging viruses are present within the catchment area of a wastewater treatment plant.
They then pass this information to local and state public health departments, which can begin planning and increasing their surveillance efforts.
Although wastewater monitoring is a vital part of detecting emerging viral outbreaks, it does have certain limitations.
For instance, the researchers explain that TexWEB cannot identify where the virus is coming from, so it could be from wild birds, agriculture, food processing, or mammals, including humans.
At this point, there is no evidence for human-to-human transmission, and pasteurized milk has been shown to be safe, the researchers from Texas told Healthline.
However, they also said that TexWEB continues to monitor for emerging mutations that may increase virulence or transmissibility to mammalian hosts.
We asked Pyr whether the H5N1 virus could spark a new pandemic. Unfortunately, the answer is yes.
Luckily, he continued, for now, the virus does not thrive in the human body, and only a few cases have been reported globally. Can this change? Yes, it can, but we cannot predict when it will happen and how severe the disease caused by a new variant will be in humans.
We also asked what global health organizations should do to slow transmission. He answered our question with a question:
Are individual countries and politicians prepared to brace for the next threat and follow the advice given by international agencies? Are they ready to allow professional agencies to operate without political pressure?
While bird flu certainly is a serious threat, Pyr believes we should prepare for it, but we should not panic.
The H5N1 virus has infected millions of birds and other mammals. Recently, it has jumped into cattle in nine states. So far, there has only been one case of cattle-to-human transmission and no human-to-human transmission.
The CDC is closely monitoring the situation, and wastewater analysis is just one of their tools. Although we do not know the virus next move, for now, we do not need to worry.
BALTIMORE -- What a win for the Flu Jays.
Scraping together their nine healthiest men behind Jos Berros, who woke up Monday morning still unsure if he could even pitch, the Blue Jays pulled off a 3-2 win over the Orioles that means as much to them as any so far this season.
You dont want to say that May 13 is a huge game, but this is a huge [expletive] win, manager John Schneider said. We had nine guys. We obviously had no moves to make. I couldnt be more proud of the guys that were out there tonight.
This is the second time a virus has torn through the Blue Jays clubhouse this season, but this one has been particularly harsh. Schneider sounded like he should find a recording studio before his deep voice lost its gravelly rasp. It was Daulton Varsho, the star of the show, who might be the one healthy player left. Grinning wide in front of the postgame cameras after waves of weary Blue Jays had trudged by, Varsho looked like the last survivor in a zombie movie.
I told them before the game, Theres no secrets here, boys. Youre not getting pinch-hit for, youre not getting pinch-run for. Vogey, Kirky, I hope youre feeling fast. Yeah, its May 13, but thats a huge [expletive] win.
Schneider is right. It doesnt matter if it is May 13, the Blue Jays are living in a completely different context than most teams at this point.
Now 19-22, the Blue Jays are in the basement of the AL East, staring up at this Os team that has blurred past them. Three or four seasons ago, the Blue Jays were cast as the next great powers in the division, but theyre still fighting to taste that, and given how these past few seasons have ended for Toronto, frustrations are building quicker than ever.
Thats why a win like this carries so much weight, even when fans are still bringing sweaters to ballparks. The Blue Jays cant afford to continue their skid through this series against the Os and their upcoming date with the Rays. Even with some soft spots against the White Sox on the other side of this hill, the Blue Jays have put themselves in a spot where another three-game skid could have serious, long-term implications.
Now, with a water in one shaky hand and a Gatorade in the other, the Blue Jays try to begin their climb again.
"Obviously, their record isnt toward the top like ours and some other teams are, but thats a tough team, said Orioles starter Corbin Burnes. I think you saw it tonight. Every AB felt like it was a tough out. Pitching-wise, when they line up their guy like that with their best bullpen arms, its going to be a tough game. Definitely what you sign up for when you get in division games."
Burnes was stuck facing Berros who, other than a pair of home runs surrendered to Adley Rutschman, looked like his dominant self over seven innings before Yimi Garca and Jordan Romano put on a masterful performance on the back end.
Berros only knew hed be able to pitch around 10 a.m. Monday morning when his fever broke and he began to sweat it out. There was water, fruit, painkillers and electrolytes working to rebuild him. Berros said that he felt pain "everywhere" in his body, leaving him worried that he might strain something if he threw too hard, but this man is "La Makina" for a reason.
Varsho was brilliant, robbing a home run from Ryan OHearn in the fourth and then launching one of his own in the eighth to tie the game at 2 and save the Blue Jays from another crippling loss. Surrounded by sick and tired teammates, even Varsho, typically one of this clubs most reserved personalities, was beaming with pride.
I think this showed that the nine guys in the lineup really, really care about this team, Varsho said. Up and down through that lineup, we put really good at-bats together and we won this game because of that.
Call this a character win. The Blue Jays didnt play perfect baseball, but thats not what this was about. Playing with no bench, half a bullpen and a roster running on fumes, the Blue Jays found a way to gut one out with whatever they had left.
(NewsNation) The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention launched a wastewater tracking dashboard Tuesday in an effort to monitor and stop the rapid spread of bird flu, which has been detected in cattle in nine states.
Over 40 cattle herds across the country have confirmed cases of the H5N1 virus, also called bird flu.
The CDC dashboard will track all influenza A viruses from 600 wastewater treatment sites around the country in order to help public health officials pinpoint where the viruses show up most aggressively.
Flu viruses that cause human disease circulate at very low levels during the summer months, so the presence of high levels of influenza A in wastewater during this time could be a reliable indicator that something unusual is going on in a particular area, reported STAT.
As of May 4, data from 189 of the agencys wastewater sampling sites showed that an influenza A virus had been detected at higher-than-average levels in sites, including some in Illinois and Alaska.
Concerns around the spread of bird flu have heightened as the virus becomes more widespread in dairy cows.
Avian influenza, commonly called bird flu, is an infection from a type of influenza virus that usually spreads in birds and other animals, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
The virus usually spreads in birds but can also infect humans if they come in contact with an infected animals body fluid, like spit, respiratory droplets or feces, the medical center said.
It can also be spread if a human breathes in small dust particles in animal habitats or gets it into their eyes, nose or mouth after touching animal body fluids. People who work with poultry, waterfowl and livestock are most vulnerable to catching the virus.
Its extremely rare for the virus to spread from one human to another, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
Researchers still dont know how the recent outbreak of bird flu spread to cattle, but the leading theory is that it has to do with milking machines that could be carrying the virus, Jenna Guthmiller, an assistant professor of immunology and microbiology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, said in the universitys journal.
She said high levels of the virus have been found in the cows udders, and the infection appears restricted to dairy cows, which furthers this possibility.
Influenza A has never been recorded like this in cows before. Theres the occasional cow infected, but they are not a natural host for influenza A viruses, so this is really quite shocking to the field, she said.
Bird flu has been detected in 42 cattle herds in nine states as of Tuesday, according to federal data.
These states include Michigan, New Mexico, North Carolina, Kansas, Colorado, Idaho, Ohio, South Dakota and Texas.
Researchers at Stanford University and Emory University found high amounts of bird flu viral RNA in archived wastewater samples from three sites in northern Texas, reported STAT. The virus had been present at detectable levels since late February, one month before the state confirmed its first case of bird flu in cattle, the outlet reported.
There has been only one confirmed human case of bird flu this year, which came out of Texas.
The person had direct exposure to dairy cattle presumed to be infected with bird flu and experienced eye inflammation as their only symptom, state officials said.
The CDC is monitoring 260 people who have been exposed to infected dairy cows for flu-like symptoms. Thirty-three people have been tested for the virus, according to agency data.
The agency says the current risk of contracting the virus to the general public is low as these cases are rare in humans.
Right now, the H5N1 bird flu situation remains primarily an animal health issue. However, the CDC is watching this situation closely and taking routine preparedness and prevention measures in case this virus changes to pose a greater human health risk, it said.
According to the CDC, symptoms of bird flu in humans range from eye redness or mild flu-like upper respiratory symptoms to pneumonia, high fever, cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, muscle or body aches, headaches, fatigue, and shortness of breath or difficulty breathing.
Less common signs and symptoms include diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, or seizures, according to the agency.
The virus has been found in high levels in the raw unpasteurized milk of infected cows.
CDC officials warned last week that people who drink raw milk could theoretically become infected if the bird flu virus comes in contact with receptors in the nose, mouth and throat or if they inhale the virus into their lungs.
The Food and Drug Administration and the CDC both have long said that raw milk is one of the riskiest foods people can consume.
Raw milk can be contaminated with harmful germs that can make you very sick, the CDC warned.
But despite those warnings, sales of raw milk have risen.
Since March 25, when the bird flu virus was confirmed in cattle for the first time, weekly sales of raw cows milk have ticked up 21% to as much as 65% compared with the same periods a year ago, according to the market research firm NielsenIQ.
States have widely varying regulations regarding raw milk, with some allowing retail sales in stores and others allowing sales only at farms.
Viral remnants have been found in samples of milk sold in grocery stores, but the FDA said those products are safe to consume because pasteurization has been confirmed to kill the virus.
Bird flu is not transmissible by eating properly prepared and cooked poultry and eggs so these are safe to eat, the FDA has said.
The chance of infected poultry or eggs entering the food chain is extremely low because of the rapid onset of symptoms in poultry as well as the safeguards USDA has in place, which include testing of flocks, and Federal inspection programs, the agency said.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
It's not just hunters, poultry farmers, and dairy farmers that need to be wary of the current bird flu outbreak happening in the United States.
City folk, especially those with pets, need to take care, too, scientists say.
A community science project, called the New York City Virus Hunters (NYCVH) Program, has published research that shows a small number of birds flying through the big apple over the last few years were infected with a highly contagious strain of avian influenza.
Between 2022 and 2023, volunteers collected 1,927 bird poop samples from various urban parks and green spaces scattered across the city, as well as some samples from animal rehabilitation centers.
In total, samples from six birds tested positive for the virus, including a red-tailed hawk, three Canada geese, a peregrine falcon, and a chicken.
While the presence of bird flu in New York City poses a low risk to humans and pets living there, it is not a zero-risk situation.
"It's smart to stay alert and stay away from wildlife," says Christine Marizzi, a microbiologist at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. "This also includes preventing your pets from getting in close contact with wildlife."
New York City lies in the path of many migrating wild birds, and as Marizzi and her co-authors of the NYCVH study explain, "This brings them into contact with a highly dense population of humans and pets, providing an extensive urban animalhuman interface in which the general public may have little awareness of circulating infectious diseases."
While findings suggest the latest highly pathogenic avian influenza strains have been in New York for at least two years already, no human cases have been reported, which means a spillover event is probably rare.
That said, in Texas, a farm worker recently fell ill from the bird flu after most likely contracting it from a sick cow. That unique case is possibly the first instance of mammal-to-human transmission of avian influenza.
The World Health Organization has recorded only a small number of humans contracting the flu from birds worldwide since the current outbreak began in 2020, and only that one case in Texas is linked to a mammal.
Still, officials at WHO are taking the potential threat of mammal spillovers very seriously, as the H5N1 virus can be quite deadly if it does infect humans.
In the US alone, the bird flu outbreak has already jumped from migrating birds to wild foxes, raccoons, possums, skunks, seals, leopards, bears, mountain lions, and bobcats. Domestic cats and dogs have also fallen ill. Even cattle and goats.
Some at WHO describe the current avian flu outbreak as "a global zoonotic animal pandemic".
In one case earlier this year, a dozen cats on a dairy farm died from drinking bird flu-contaminated cow milk.
"Birds are key to finding out which influenza and other avian viruses are circulating in the New York City area, as well as important for understanding which ones can be dangerous to both other birds and humans," says Marizzi.
"And we need more eyes on the ground that's why community involvement is really critical."
The study was published in the Journal of Virology.
Heres a look at medical treatment for bird flu in humans.
Q: How is bird flu treated in humans?
Available data and limited studies suggest several antiviral medications used to treat seasonal flu in people are also effective against bird flu, according to the CDC. These antivirals include oseltamivir, sold under the brand name Tamiflu.
Antiviral medicines can help reduce the severity of the illness, prevent complications and improve the chances of survival.
The key is for people with suspected or confirmed infections to take the antivirals as soon as possible. Antiviral treatment works best when started within 48 hours of the first flu symptoms.
For more serious infections, supportive care such as oxygen therapy and IV fluids may also be needed. A severe case could require a patient be placed on a breathing machine.
Historically, bird flu carries a high mortality rate in humans and complications of bird flu can include pneumonia and sepsis.
Q: Can antivirals be used to prevent an infection?
Maybe. Antivirals are sometimes given to a person soon after an exposure to a sick or dead animal in order to prevent an infection.
Q: Are Tamiflu and other flu antivirals available over the counter?
A: No. They are only available with a doctors prescription.
Q: How do the antivirals work?
Antivirals such as Tamiflu work by attacking the flu virus to keep it from multiplying in your body. This helps reduce the severity and duration of flu symptoms.
Researchers have discovered a new autoimmune syndrome associated with COVID-19 that can cause life-threatening lung disease.
The syndrome which scientists have dubbed "MDA5-autoimmunity and interstitial pneumonitis contemporaneous with the COVID-19 pandemic," or MIP-C for short is a rare, serious condition in which the immune system inadvertently attacks the body. In the worst cases, the lungs end up so scarred and stiff that the only way to save the patient is a full lung transplant.
However, only a portion of cases involve the lungs. "Two-thirds of our cases did not have lung disease," said Dr. Dennis McGonagle, a rheumatologist at the University of Leeds in the U.K. who first started piecing together the patterns of the new disease. "But we did see that eight cases rapidly progressed and died despite all the high-tech therapies we could throw at them."
In all, McGonagle and his colleagues have identified 60 cases of the syndrome so far. They published a study of the cases May 8 in the journal eBioMedicine.
Related: COVID-19 linked to 40% increase in autoimmune disease risk in huge study
The disease looks similar to the known condition MDA5 dermatomyositis, which is seen almost entirely in women of Asian descent, McGonagle told Live Science.
In it, patients experience joint aches, muscle inflammation and skin rashes, and in two-thirds of cases, they develop life-threatening lung scarring. MDA5 dermatomyositis happens when the immune system attacks one of its own: a protein called MDA5 that normally helps detect RNA viruses. Such viruses include those that cause influenza, Ebola and COVID-19.
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To better understand autoimmunity against MDA5, hospitals associated with the University of Leeds in Yorkshire began screening people with autoimmune symptoms for antibodies against the protein. Back in 2018, they found three patients who fit the bill. They saw another three cases the following year and eight more in 2020 but then, in 2021, there were suddenly 35.
The patients carried anti-MDA5 antibodies, but their disease was different from the previously known dermatomyositis. Most cases didn't involve the lungs; new patients were mostly white rather than of Asian descent; and affected women only slightly outnumbered men.
McGonagle reached out to Dr. Pradipta Ghosh at the University of California, San Diego to investigate further. Ghosh had been using a computational framework to take medical testing data and find common threads between conditions. Her team previously published work about lung scarring in COVID-19, as well as MIS-C, an inflammatory syndrome that arises in some children after they have COVID-19.
The team compared medical records from patients with the mystery condition, patients with COVID-induced pneumonia and patients with lung scarring unrelated to viruses. Patients with pneumonia and the autoimmune condition both showed increased activity in the gene IFIH1, which provides the blueprint for MDA5.
Most patients with the mystery syndrome did not have a recently confirmed case of COVID-19 in their records, but it's probable many were exposed to the coronavirus and had either mild or asymptomatic disease, McGonagle said, given the timing of their cases. More than half of the patients were confirmed vaccinated for COVID-19, although which specific vaccine each person got is unknown.
Related: Master regulator of inflammation found and it's in the brain stem
The new study suggests that exposure to the coronavirus's RNA, COVID-19 vaccines or both may sometimes trigger the production of anti-MDA5 antibodies, McGonagle said.
Normally, MDA5 activates when it senses viral RNA in a cell and prompts the body to make antibodies against the virus. But in people with MIP-C, this immune response goes wrong. Either the body mistakes the MDA5 protein as foreign and attacks it, or the RNA kicks off such a strong immune response that the body's own proteins, including MDA5, become targeted for immune attack, McGonagle suggested.
The activation of IFIH1 came with a flood of an inflammatory protein called interleukin-15 (IL-15), the researchers found. IL-15 activates a class of immune cells that normally kill infected cells but can sometimes go rogue and attack the body's own cells.
"Our work should alert doctors to start thinking that if you see there was some exposure to virus or the vaccine or just a contact to somebody who had COVID and they come in with joint pains, rashes, aches let's look at the lungs," Ghosh told Live Science.
The researchers are still collecting data, but new cases of MIP-C now appear to be slowing. In 2022, Yorkshire saw 17 cases about half of 2021's rate. The intense RNA exposure of the widespread COVID waves of 2021 plus mass vaccination may have driven that year's spike, McGonagle theorized. The researchers said they have received reports of possible MIP-C from other regions, as well.
The study also uncovered a particular genetic sequence within the IFIH1 gene that, in people who had that sequence, seemed to prevent the runaway IL-15 inflammatory response. The next step is to understand why others are vulnerable to it, Ghosh said.
This article is for informational purposes only and is not meant to offer medical advice.
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Federal Reserve Chair JeromePowelltested positive for COVID-19 on Thursdayand is currently working from home, a Fed spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
ChairPowelltested positive for COVID-19 late yesterday and is experiencing symptoms. He is working from home and staying away from others, the statement said, as per guidance from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The announcement follows a trip to Europe this week in whichPowell, 71, appeared on Tuesday on stage at an event with Dutch central bank president Klaas Knot in Amsterdam.
Powelllast tested positive for Covid in January 2023. There was little reaction in financial markets after the Feds announcement ofPowells latest COVID-19 infection. The next scheduled Fed policy meeting is not until June 11-12.
Powell, who was due to give commencement remarks in person on Sunday at Georgetown Law School, will now deliver them via prerecorded video, the statement said.
The United States has raised deep concerns over the disappearance of Zhang Zhan, a Chinese citizen journalist who was expected to be released from prison on Monday.
Zhang, a former lawyer, was arrested in May 2020, about a year after she began reporting on Covid-19 from Wuhan, the epicentre of the initial coronavirus outbreak in China, where she live-streamed scenes of hospitals and the local pandemic response.
Days after she was set to be released, advocacy groups said they still had not heard from Zhang or her family.
The US Department of State released a statement on Thursday, saying it was deeply concerned over reports that [Peoples Republic of China] citizen journalist Ms Zhang Zhan has disappeared following her expected release from Shanghai Womens Prison on May 13.
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Chinese citizen journalist Zhang Zhan sentenced to four years in jail for Wuhan coronavirus reports
Chinese citizen journalist Zhang Zhan sentenced to four years in jail for Wuhan coronavirus reports
Zhang was one of the few citizen journalists in China to report on the early experiences of people in Wuhan during the citys lockdown.
She was the first to face trial for reporting on the pandemic in the central Chinese city and received the harshest punishment among several prominent peers including Chen Qiushi, Li Zehua and Fang Bin.
Zhang went on hunger strike in protest shortly after her arrest and remained on intermittent strike during her sentence.
In 2021, Zhang was awarded the prize for courage at the Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Awards. According to the Paris-based advocacy group, China is ranked 172 out of 180 countries on its press freedom index.
