Aggressive prevention including wider changes to poultry raising needed after at least 56 US farms doubly infected
Scores of poultry operations in the US have been reinfected by bird flu since 2022, costing hundreds of millions of dollars in federal payouts, according to documents obtained by the Guardian.
The recurring outbreaks highlight the need for more aggressive prevention, including poultry vaccination and changes to how poultry is farmed, experts say.
Continue reading...Despite conflicting laws, a wave of amateur homesteaders have started keeping fowl in the spirit of self-sufficiency
Katie Whalen’s backyard in the Florida city of Port St Lucie is testament to her journey towards a life of self-sufficiency. She grows mangoes, avocados, starfruit, jackfruit and coconuts. She is cultivating a tropical tree spinach known as chaya.
What she really wants, however, is a chicken coop and hens to provide eggs that are becoming increasingly unaffordable in stores. As bird flu worsens across the US and commercial suppliers struggle to keep up with demand, the keeping of fowl and production of eggs in home environments, has surged in popularity, and Whalen is keen to join the revolution.
Continue reading...Experts say current US outbreak is unlikely to end without intervention with further mutation of virus likely
A newer variant of H5N1 bird flu has spilled over into dairy cows separately in Nevada and Arizona, prompting new theories about how the virus is spread and leading to questions about containing the ongoing outbreaks.
The news comes amid a purge of experts at federal agencies, including employees who were responding to the highly pathogenic avian influenza outbreak at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the US Department of Agriculture.
Continue reading...Experts raise fears for England’s largest colony at Blakeney Point as they conduct tests to identify source of infection
Experts have raised fears for the seals at England’s largest colony after four were found to have died after having been infected with bird flu.
Government scientists are investigating to find out whether the seals died after scavenging from the corpses of infected birds.
Continue reading...Agency works to rehire employees shortly after touting plan to ‘optimize workforce’ by cutting staff with help of Musk
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) said it accidentally fired several employees working on the H5N1 avian influenza, or bird flu, outbreak and is now trying to rehire them.
The about-face came after the USDA touted its plans to “optimize its workforce” by firing workers and terminating contracts, actions aided by billionaire Elon Musk’s unofficial agency, the “department of government efficiency” (Doge), NBC News reported on Tuesday.
Continue reading...Experts’ concern grows as communication breaks down among federal agencies responsible for tackling epidemic
The Trump administration has disrupted the US response to bird flu as the outbreak worsens, leading to confusion and concern among federal staff, state officials, veterinarians and health experts, 11 sources told Reuters.
Since Donald Trump took office on 20 January, two federal agencies responsible for monitoring and responding to the epidemic have withheld bird flu reports and canceled congressional briefings and meetings with state health officials, the sources said.
Continue reading...Police search for culprit in Antrim township heist as US egg prices continue to rise amid bird flu outbreak
Police in Pennsylvania are hunting for thieves who stole 100,000 eggs from the back of a trailer, amid a US-wide spike in the price of eggs that has triggered panic-buying in some shops.
The eggs were lifted from the back of Pete & Gerry’s Organics’ distribution trailer on Saturday at about 8.40pm in Antrim township, according to police. There have been no arrests yet.
Continue reading...Discovery of H5N9 came alongside detection of the more common H5N1 on the farm, leading to 119,000 birds’ deaths
The first outbreak of a rare bird flu in poultry has been detected on a duck farm in California, the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) said on Monday.
Authorities said the discovery of H5N9 bird flu in poultry came alongside the detection of the more common H5N1 strain on the same farm in Merced county, California, and that almost 119,000 birds on the farm had been killed since early December.
Continue reading...Unusually late migration season means poultry operations may continue to see H5N1 outbreaks, officials say
Maryland has detected bird flu among three different commercial poultry flocks in the past week, marking the state’s first outbreak in more than a year. The discoveries come shortly after the establishment of a joint command with Delaware following the latter state’s detection of H5N1 in two other poultry operations.
Although the deadly bird flu has circulated in North America since 2022, the past few months have been especially brutal for the poultry industry. More than 20 million egg-laying hens died in the fall, the worst rates since the outbreak began, and egg prices have risen as a result.
Continue reading...Mutations are rare but have been reported in some cases in other countries and most often in extreme infections
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday its analysis of samples from the first severe case of bird flu in the country last week showed mutations not seen in samples from an infected backyard flock on the patient’s property.
The CDC said the patient’s sample showed mutations in the hemagglutinin (HA) gene, the part of the virus that plays a key role in it attaching to host cells.
Continue reading...Northwest Naturals has told customers to throw out Feline Turkey Recipe pet food after batch tested positive for virus
A voluntary recall of raw and frozen cat food has been issued in Oregon after a cat that died of bird flu was linked to the product, state officials have said.
Northwest Naturals has instructed customers of its Feline Turkey Recipe raw frozen pet food to throw out the product if its sell-by date falls between 21 May 2026 and 23 June 2026.
Continue reading...Bengal tiger, cougars, a lynx and bobcats dead as disease spreads rapidly among US poultry flocks and dairy herds
Twenty exotic cats, including a Bengal tiger, four cougars, a lynx and four bobcats, have died after contracting bird flu at an animal sanctuary in Shelton, Washington.
The feline deaths come as bird flu, a highly pathogenic avian influenza, has spread rapidly through poultry flocks and dairy herds in the US, infected and killed domestic cats, and caused a severe illness in a person in Louisiana.
Continue reading...Scientists are racing to understand what a hospitalized teen’s case of bird flu may mean for future outbreaks
The teenager hospitalized with bird flu in British Columbia, Canada, may have a variation of the virus that has a mutation making it more transmissible among people, early data shows – a warning of what the virus can do that is especially worrisome in countries such as the US where some H5N1 cases are not being detected.
The US “absolutely” is not testing and monitoring bird flu cases enough, which means scientists could miss mutated cases like these, said Richard Webby, a virologist at St Jude children’s research hospital’s department of infectious diseases.
Continue reading...British Columbia teen had no underlying health conditions and had been exposed to dogs, cats and reptiles, officials say
A teenager is in critical condition in a British Columbia children’s hospital, in what is believed to be Canada’s first human case of bird flu.
“This was a healthy teenager prior to this, so no underlying conditions,” said the provincial health officer Bonnie Henry in a news conference on Tuesday.
Continue reading...The H5N1 virus killed 47 tigers, three lions and a panther at the My Quynh safari park and the Vuon Xoai zoo, according to state media
Forty-seven tigers, three lions and a panther have died in zoos in south Vietnam due to the H5N1 bird flu virus, state media reported.
The deaths occurred in August and September at the private My Quynh safari park in Long An province and the Vuon Xoai zoo in Dong Nai, near the capital Ho Chi Minh City, the official Vietnam News Agency (VNA) reported on Wednesday.
Continue reading...Birds practising kleptoparasitism – harassing each other until they drop their saliva-covered food – seen as ‘plausible pathway’ for arrival of H5N1
Scientists have identified a new way for an aggressive strain of bird flu to enter Australia, via the habit of some migratory birds of harassing other birds and stealing their food and potentially their viruses.
Australia is the only continent to have so far escaped a virulent H5N1 strain of avian flu – known as 2.3.4.4b and discovered in Europe in 2021– that has devastated bird populations in other parts of the world.
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Continue reading...Julie Collins describes avian flu situation as ‘dynamic’ as she highlights concerns about the impact to wildlife and agriculture
Census to include questions on gender and sexuality
Speers finishes up by asking Chalmers about the ongoing census questions palaver.
We have listened to the community. We worked very closely with the Australian Bureau of Statistics. LGBTIQ+ Australians matter. They have been heard and they will count in the 2026 census.
Really the message that we want to ensure that Australians hear from us today is that we understand the feedback that we got, we listened to that, we took it very seriously, we listened very genuinely.
We said we would find the best way to do this and I believe that we have and we will and the ABS will continue to refine the actual wording of the questions now that this additional topic has been add.
We want to make sure that we are maximising this really important economic relationship with our key trading partner. It’s a relationship which is full of complexity, but also full of opportunity and I want to help the government maximise that opportunity for the Australian people, workers, businesses, employers, investors.
Continue reading...Also first time for someone with H5 virus to be hospitalized, and CDC says it is studying patient specimen more
A person in Missouri with no known animal contact has tested positive for H5 bird flu, the state’s department of health and senior services said Friday.
It’s the first time a patient in the US outbreak has had no known exposure to sick animals. And it is the first time someone has been hospitalized with bird flu – though it’s not clear yet whether influenza was the reason for hospitalization or it was incidental.
This article was updated on 6 September 2024 to correct that the Missouri department of health and senior services, not the state’s agriculture department, made the announcement about a person testing positive for H5 bird flu.
Continue reading...Public health experts warn ‘overinflated view of abilities’ and restrictive laws could make next outbreak more lethal
The US is making the same mistakes with the H5N1 bird flu virus as with Covid, even as the highly pathogenic avian influenza continues spreading on American farms and raising alarms that it could mutate to become a pandemic, public health experts argue in the New England Journal of Medicine.
“We’re closing our eyes to both the Covid pandemic and to a potential nascent bird flu [pandemic] on the horizon,” said Gregg Gonsalves, associate professor of epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health and co-author of the article. “Our ability to react swiftly and decisively is the big problem.”
Continue reading...Regulators will inspect cows to see how widespread virus is and determine whether ageing and cooking inactivate it
The US will track bird flu infections in dairy cows brought to slaughter to understand the ways the virus infects meat and will also continue testing raw milk cheeses to see whether the virus is inactivated in the ageing process.
The renewed focus on the US food chain is the latest front in the effort to combat the infectious bird flu virus, or H5N1, which has triggered alarm bells across the world as a potential future pandemic.
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