Category Archives: Bird Flu

Bird flu in Canada may have mutated to become more transmissible to humans

Posted on by

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...

Teenager in critical condition with Canada’s first human case of bird flu

Posted on by

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...

Bird flu outbreak kills dozens of tigers in Vietnam zoos

Posted on by

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...

Deadly avian flu strain could enter Australia via thieving migratory birds, scientists warn

Posted on by

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.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

News live: Australia’s ability to fight off deadly bird flu to be put to test in series of exercises

Posted on by

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...

Missouri sees first positive bird flu case without known animal contact

Posted on by

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...

US repeating Covid mistakes with bird flu as spread raises alarm, experts say

Posted on by

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...

US to survey dairy cattle brought to slaughter to study bird flu infections

Posted on by

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.

Continue reading...

Ecologists warn deadly H5N1 bird flu could arrive in Australia via Antarctica as preparations ramp up

Posted on by

Influx of highly pathogenic strain a case of ‘not if, but when’ and could devastate native wildlife, experts say

The Australian government is ramping up preparations for a highly pathogenic and contagious strain of bird flu potentially reaching Australia via its Antarctic territory and Macquarie Island, warning it could devastate wildlife and be passed to people.

Government agencies led by the Australian Antarctic Division at a planning exercise in Hobart on Wednesday were told an influx of the virulent H5N1 Avian flu strain that has killed millions of seabirds, wild birds and poultry overseas was a case of “not if, but when”.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Flu vaccine will curb bird flu risk for US farm workers, CDC deputy director says

Posted on by

US launches major vaccination campaign in a bid to prevent healthcare strain and potential mutations of H5N1 virus

In the face of serious concerns over the spreading bird flu virus in US agriculture, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is pushing a major flu vaccination campaign among farm workers in a bid to prevent healthcare strain and combat potential mutations from the highly pathogenic bird virus.

Part of the campaign will seek to combat disinformation about vaccines, which has hampered previous efforts.

Continue reading...

Michigan leading US on monitoring and studying bird flu outbreak

Posted on by

Daily text messages and phone calls check on farm workers who work with cows that have tested positive for H5N1

As questions swirl about the spread of bird flu among livestock and people, one US state – Michigan – has taken the lead on monitoring and studying the outbreak.

Other states have seemed wary of tracking cases among animals and people, but Michigan has taken a proactive approach, with daily text messages and phone calls to check on farm workers who work with cows that have tested positive for H5N1. They also have offered free tests if symptoms develop.

Continue reading...

Top CDC officials warns US needs ‘more tests’ in face of bird flu fears

Posted on by

Agency principal deputy director wants more testing of farm workers who work in proximity to affected animals

There is not enough testing for bird flu among people and animals in the US, says Dr Nirav Shah, principal deputy director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) – but he is wary of pushing the issue and damaging fragile trust among farm workers and owners.

“We would like to be doing more tests,” Shah said. “We’d like to be testing particularly not just symptomatic workers, but anyone on a farm who is exposed.”

Continue reading...

Police investigate after pro-Palestinian slogans graffitied on Canberra war memorial – as it happened

Posted on by

This blog is now closed

The education minister, Jason Clare, has said stricter regulations on social media for teenagers had bipartisan support.

Speaking to Channel 7’s Sunrise, Clare called social media a “cesspit”, and added that Labor’s age verification trial would be the first step to protecting young people.

I think we all agree that social media’s a cesspit. We all agree we don’t want our kids on it. It’s about how do you do it?

This should be something where the Labor party and the Liberal party can work together.

Continue reading...

Egg farmers say supply not at risk from bird flu after Coles imposes two-carton limit on shoppers

Posted on by

Supermarket’s restriction applies everywhere except WA as more than 500,000 chickens euthanised due to avian influenza

Egg farmers have rushed to reassure consumers that there is no shortage of eggs after the supermarket chain Coles announced a two-carton limit in response to the avian influenza outbreak in Victoria.

The highly pathogenic H7N3 strain of bird flu has been detected on four farms in western Victoria, and another highly pathogenic strain, H7N9, has been detected at a fifth farm. More than half a million chickens have been euthanised in an effort to stop the spread of the disease.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

CDC warns of more US bird flu cases after second human infected by cows

Posted on by

Centers for Disease Control notes high levels of virus in raw milk amid outbreak among cows, after Michigan dairy worker infected

A Michigan dairy worker has been diagnosed with bird flu – the second human case associated with an outbreak in US dairy cows, after a case emerged in Texas earlier this spring.

The new patient had mild eye symptoms and has recovered, US and Michigan health officials said in announcing the case on Wednesday afternoon. The worker had been in contact with cows presumed to be infected, and the risk to the public remains low, officials said.

Continue reading...

Lack of bird flu testing may be hiding true spread of virus on US farms

Posted on by

H5N1 has been found in commercially available milk – but gaps in testing of cattle and humans are hampering effort to stop virus

Serious gaps in testing animals and people could be obscuring the true rate of avian influenza cases in the US and make it difficult to understand how the H5N1 virus is spreading – and how to stop it, experts say.

Facing reluctance from farms to test workers and animals, scientists are now turning to experimental studies to understand how H5N1, a highly pathogenic bird flu, is spreading through cows and on to other farms.

Continue reading...

Australia’s back yard chicken owners urged to implement biosecurity measures in case of bird flu outbreak

Posted on by

Australia is the only continent free from the highly contagious H5N1 virus, after it was detected in wild bird colonies in Antarctica in February

Back yard chicken owners in Australia have been urged to implement biosecurity measures to prevent contact with wild birds in the wake of a global avian influenza outbreak.

Australia remains the only continent without HPAI H5 (high pathogenicity avian influenza of subtype H5), after scavenging skua birds on mainland Antartica tested positive for bird flu in February. Symptoms for affected birds include diarrhoea, sneezing, a reduction in egg production and sudden death.

Sign up to receive Guardian Australia’s fortnightly Rural Network email newsletter

Continue reading...

Polar bear dies from bird flu as H5N1 spreads across globe

Posted on by

Highly contagious virus could bring “one of largest ecological disasters of modern times” say scientists

A polar bear has been killed by bird flu as the highly contagious H5N1 virus spreads into the most remote parts of the planet.

The death was confirmed in December by the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation. “This is the first polar bear case reported, for anywhere,” Dr Bob Gerlach, Alaska’s state veterinarian, told the Alaska Beacon.

Continue reading...

Galápagos Islands tightens biosecurity as avian flu threatens unique species

Posted on by

Scientists confirm three birds have died from virus as park authorities redouble efforts to protect islands’ endemic birds

National park authorities on the Galápagos Islands have heightened biosecurity measures to protect the archipelago’s unique fauna from the deadly H5N1 strain of avian influenza after scientists confirmed that three birds had died from the virus.

“From preliminary tests of the five specimens, three of them have tested positive for H5N1 avian influenza,” Danny Rueda, director of the Galápagos national park told the Guardian. Two frigate birds and one red-footed booby were confirmed to have died from the virus on Tuesday, after samples were sent to Guayaquil on the Ecuadorian mainland for examination.

Continue reading...

Avian flu may have killed millions of birds globally as outbreak ravages South America

Posted on by

Virus has spread around the world, with 200,000 wild birds dead in Peru alone and concerns Australia could be next

Millions of wild birds may have died from bird flu globally in the latest outbreak, researchers have said, as the viral disease ravages South America, with 200,000 deaths recorded in Peru alone.

The highly infectious variant of H5N1, which gained momentum in the winter of 2021, caused Europe’s worst bird flu outbreak before spreading globally. The disease reached South America in November 2022, and has now been reported on every continent except Oceania and Antarctica.

Continue reading...