Diseases & Outbreaks News and Discussions

[weatheriscool]

[wjfox]

Next pandemic likely to be caused by flu virus, scientists warn

Sat 20 Apr 2024 09.52 BST

Influenza is the pathogen most likely to trigger a new pandemic in the near future, according to leading scientists.

[...]

The belief that influenza is the world’s greatest pandemic threat is based on long-term research showing it is constantly evolving and mutating, said Cologne University’s Jon Salmanton-García, who carried out the study.

[...]

Last week, the World Health Organization raised fears about the alarming spread of the H5N1 strain of influenza that is causing millions of cases of avian flu across the globe. This outbreak began in 2020 and has led to the deaths or killing of tens of millions of poultry and has also wiped out millions of wild birds.

Most recently, the virus has spread to mammal species, including domestic cattle which are now infected in 12 states in the US, further increasing fears about the risks to humans. The more mammalian species the virus infects, the more opportunities it has to evolve into a strain that is dangerous to humans, Daniel Goldhill, of the Royal Veterinary College in Hatfield, told the journal Nature last week.

The appearance of the H5N1 virus in cattle was a surprise, added virologist Ed Hutchinson, of Glasgow University. "Pigs can get avian flu but until recently cattle did not. They were infected with their own strains of the disease. So the appearance of H5N1 in cows was a shock."

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/ ... tists-warn

[wjfox]

[wjfox]

First case of walrus dying from bird flu recorded in Arctic

Virus has already killed other mammals including sea lions and seals, while also taking toll on farm animals

Tue 30 Apr 2024 06.01 BST

The first case of a walrus dying from bird flu has been detected on one of Norway’s Arctic islands, a researcher has said.

The walrus was found last year on Hopen island in the Svalbard archipelago, Christian Lydersen, of the Norwegian Polar Institute, told AFP.

Tests carried out by a German laboratory revealed the presence of bird flu, Lydersen said. The sample was too small to determine whether it was the H5N1 or the H5N8 strain.

“It is the first time that bird flu has been recorded in a walrus,” Lydersen said.

About six dead walrus were found last year in the Svalbard islands, about 1,000km (620 miles) from the north pole and halfway between mainland Norway and the north pole.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/ ... ic-islands

[caltrek]

Cholera is Making a Comeback — and the World Doesn’t Have Enough Vaccines
by Ellen Ioanes
May 2, 2024

Introduction:

(Vox) Amid a global resurgence of cholera, the world is fighting with one hand tied behind its back.

The global stockpile of the oral cholera vaccine — a supply whose needs are difficult to predict and fill anyway — has dwindled to nearly nothing after the Indian drug manufacturer that produced about 15 percent of the world’s supply stopped making the vaccine last year. While other companies are setting up new production capacity, the stockpile is now effectively nonexistent. Demand is so great that as soon as doses are produced, they must immediately ship to one of the world’s current cholera hot spots.

This crisis is symptomatic of a larger problem: the persistent lack of political will and financial investment to dramatically reduce cholera deaths.

Cholera flourishes in areas where there is contaminated water, poor sanitation, and people living in crowded conditions — like the city of Rafah, currently home to more than 1 million Palestinians displaced by Israel’s war in Gaza. Cholera has not yet been detected there, since no one from outside Gaza can bring it in, but an outbreak would be catastrophic given the decimation of Gaza’s health care system and the lack of access to humanitarian goods like clean water and medication.

The disease is typically spread when an infected person or people contaminate a water source by defecating in or near it. People get sick after drinking the contaminated water, suffering from acute diarrhea and vomiting — which can, without treatment, kill an infected person within a day.

Read more here: https://www.vox.com/world-politics/241 ... -conflict

[wjfox]

USDA reports more H5N1 detections in poultry, wild birds

Lisa Schnirring
May 7, 2024

In its latest updates, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) reported more H5N1 avian flu detections in poultry and wild birds, including several pigeons in Michigan's Ionia County, an area where the virus has been reported in dairy cows.

In other US developments, a top official from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) yesterday urged state health and veterinary officials to ensure that personal protective equipment (PPE) is available to workers on dairy farms, poultry farms, and slaughterhouses.

https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/avian-influe ... wild-birds

[Time_Traveller]

South West Water refuses to say when boil water notice will be lifted after disease outbreak

Thursday 16 May 2024 17:20, UK



A South West Water boss has refused to give a timeline on when a notice to boil tap water will be lifted after a parasite was found in a key reservoir.

Speaking to Sky News, Laura Flowerdue, the company's chief customer officer, confirmed the suggestion it was likely a broken air valve that had been contaminated by animal faeces that had caused the incident that had left dozens ill and thousands unable to drink tap water.

However, she refused to give a timeframe on how long the incident would run on for - leaving thousands of residents facing an uncertain future.

She said: "We're still working through the operational processes to ensure we can absolutely link the root causes.

"We then need to take steps to repair any damage and then make sure we flush any issues through the network ... before we lift the notice."

https://news.sky.com/story/south-west-w ... k-13137217

[firestar464]

Could bird flu in cows lead to a human outbreak? Slow response worries scientists

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-01416-7

[weatheriscool]

BREAKING: Australia is now reporting the first case of a human infected with bird flu.
https://x.com/PeterSweden7/status/1793244317567336623

[caltrek]

Could bird flu in cows lead to a human outbreak? Slow response worries scientists

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-01416-7

More on that:

Tracing Bird Flu’s Ground Zero on Texas Dairy Farms
by Amy Maxmen
May 27, 2024

Introduction:

(Undark) IN EARLY FEBRUARY, dairy farmers in the Texas Panhandle began to notice sick cattle. The buzz soon reached Darren Turley, executive director of the Texas Association of Dairymen: “They said there is something moving from herd to herd.”

Nearly 60 days passed before veterinarians identified the culprit: a highly pathogenic strain of the bird flu virus, H5N1. Had it been detected sooner, the outbreak might have been swiftly contained. Now it has spread to at least eight other states, and it will be hard to eliminate.

At the moment, the bird flu hasn’t adapted to spread from person to person through the air like the seasonal flu. That’s what it would take to give liftoff to another pandemic. This lucky fact could change, however, as the virus mutates within each cow it infects. Those mutations are random, but more cows provide more chances of stumbling on ones that pose a grave risk to humans.

Why did it take so long to recognize the virus on high-tech farms in the world’s richest country? Because even though H5N1 has circulated for nearly three decades, its arrival in dairy cattle was most unexpected. “People tend to think that an outbreak starts at Monday at 9 a.m. with a sign saying, ‘Outbreak has started,’” said Jeremy Farrar, chief scientist at the World Health Organization. “It’s rarely like that.”

By investigating the origins of outbreaks, researchers garner clues about how they start and spread. That information can curb the toll of an epidemic and, ideally, stop the next one. On-the-ground observations and genomic analyses point to Texas as ground zero for this outbreak in cattle. To backtrack events in Texas, KFF Health News spoke with more than a dozen people, including veterinarians, farmers, and state officials.

Read more here: https://undark.org/2024/05/27/bird-flu ... ms-texas/