Deadly Bird Flu has jumped to Humans

nivek

nivek

As Above So Below
South Korea confirms H5N8 bird flu in wild birds and issues warning

South Korea's agriculture ministry said on Tuesday it had confirmed the highly pathogenic H5N8 strain of bird flu in samples from wild birds in the central west of the country and issued its bird flu warning.

The virus was discovered in samples collected from wild birds last week in Cheonan-si, Chungcheongnam-do, about 84km (52.2 miles) central west of capital Seoul, the agriculture ministry said in a statement.

The ministry said it has ramped up prevention measures to contain a wider spread of bird flu and issued a highly pathogenic avian influenza warning as there are increased risks the virus will spread.

"This is a serious situation where the pollutant can flow from the migratory bird land to the farm though various routes," Agriculture Ministry Kim Hyeon-soo said in a statement, urging the thorough implementation of quarantine measures at the farm, such as the daily disinfecting of the farmyard.

Following a separate bird flu outbreak on Tuesday in the Netherlands, Dutch health officials ordered a cull of chickens.

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nivek

nivek

As Above So Below
What is going on in Denmark @AD1184 ?...Covid minks and bird flu outbreaks!...

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Dutch cull 215,000 chickens after bird flu detected

Dutch health workers have culled some 215,000 chickens after an outbreak of a highly-contagious strain of bird flu was detected on a farm in the country's southeast, agricultural authorities said Thursday.

"Bird flu was detected at a poultry farm specialising in battery hens," at Puiflijk, about 20 kilometres (12.5 miles) northwest of the Dutch city of Nijmegen, the Agriculture Ministry said.

"It is most likely a highly contagious pathogen of the H5 variety," it added in a statement. Around 100,000 hens were culled at the farm as well as 115,000 other chickens on a nearby farm.

Authorities have thrown a one-kilometre cordon around the farms and imposed a 10-kilometre ban on the transport of poultry products including meat, eggs and manure. In late October health workers culled 35,700 birds on a third farm near Puiflijk after bird flu was detected there.

Dutch Agriculture Minister Carola Schouten on October 23 imposed preventative indoor containment on all commercial poultry farms after two dead swans were discovered carrying the highly contagious H5N8 variety of bird flu.

The new measures come as the Netherlands also battle a second wave of COVID-19 which continued to infect around 7,600 people a day.

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AD1184

AD1184

Celestial
nivek said:
What is going on in Denmark @AD1184 ?...Covid minks and bird flu outbreaks!...

...

Dutch cull 215,000 chickens after bird flu detected

Dutch health workers have culled some 215,000 chickens after an outbreak of a highly-contagious strain of bird flu was detected on a farm in the country's southeast, agricultural authorities said Thursday.

"Bird flu was detected at a poultry farm specialising in battery hens," at Puiflijk, about 20 kilometres (12.5 miles) northwest of the Dutch city of Nijmegen, the Agriculture Ministry said.

"It is most likely a highly contagious pathogen of the H5 variety," it added in a statement. Around 100,000 hens were culled at the farm as well as 115,000 other chickens on a nearby farm.

Authorities have thrown a one-kilometre cordon around the farms and imposed a 10-kilometre ban on the transport of poultry products including meat, eggs and manure. In late October health workers culled 35,700 birds on a third farm near Puiflijk after bird flu was detected there.

Dutch Agriculture Minister Carola Schouten on October 23 imposed preventative indoor containment on all commercial poultry farms after two dead swans were discovered carrying the highly contagious H5N8 variety of bird flu.

The new measures come as the Netherlands also battle a second wave of COVID-19 which continued to infect around 7,600 people a day.

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This article describes an outbreak in the Netherlands. Although the Netherlands did apparently have the same Danish mink mutation evolve independently in some of their own mink in the summer.

Dead wild birds with pathogenic bird flu are occasionally found in, or in the vicinity of, bird farms in Europe and Britain, and culls of the farm's birds then ensue. Several bird flu strains of pandemic potential are endemic to wild bird populations in many parts of the globe.
 
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nivek

nivek

As Above So Below
Swans are spinning in circles, bleeding from their nostrils, and collapsing dead amid an outbreak of avian flu in Europe
  • Officials in the UK are becoming increasingly concerned about the spread of avian influenza in the country after reports of some swans dying gruesome, bloody deaths.
  • Swans have been reported to spin in circles and bleed from their nostrils before dying in some regions of the UK.
  • The deaths come amid an outbreak of a new strain of avian flu, H5N8, which has already led to the culling of thousands of birds across Europe.
  • The disease is not believed to pose a threat to humans, and there is currently no suggestion it could impact poultry supply chains.

Officials in the UK are becoming increasingly concerned about the spread of avian influenza in the country after reports of a number of swans dying gruesome, bloody deaths.

According to a report from the Guardian newspaper, a number of swans in Cumbria, in north west England, were seen spinning in circles and bleeding from their nostrils before dying. The incidences of this happening were reported in Ulverston canal, the Guardian said.

"Many of them started to spin on their axis in one direction. It was terrible to see. Some of them were discharging from their nostrils and some of it was bloody," said Caroline Sim, who volunteers with Flying Free, a group that works to preserve Ulverston's swan population, according to the Guardian.

Although the cases of swan deaths in Cumbria have not been directly linked to avian flu at this point, a number of dead swans in Dawlish, Devon — around 250 miles south of Ulverston — were confirmed to have contracted H5N8, the latest strain of avian flu.

Cases of the virus have been seen across Europe, with France, Germany, Belgium, Norway and others reporting instances of H5N8.

"Wild geese near Stroud in Gloucestershire and swans near Dawlish in Devon have tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N8," the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) said in a statement on November 11.

On November 22, DEFRA issued guidance for bird owners, and created a new Avian Influenza Prevention Zone.

Christine Middlemiss, the UK's chief veterinary officer, told Sky News this weekend that the rise in avian flu infections must be taken seriously.

"My concern level is really high," she said. "We potentially have a lot of risk out there," because of the "sheer volume of infections," she added.

Officials, however, have made clear that the risk to humans from this new strain is low.

"To date, there have been no human cases of infection with influenza A(H5N8) confirmed by the WHO and the risk to public health is very low," Dr Gavin Dabrera, a consultant in acute respiratory infections for Public Health England said.

Food standards authorities added that the chance of contracting the disease by eating infected poultry is low.

"Properly cooked poultry and poultry products, including eggs, remain safe to eat," the UK's Food Standards Agency said.

Regardless of the low threat to humans, authorities across Europe have begun culling thousands of birds in an attempt to stop the spread. According to Reuters, 16,000 turkeys in Germany were culled this week, while 48,000 chickens were killed in the Netherlands, and 13,000 killed at a farm in northwest England.

On Sunday, it was reported that over 10,000 turkeys at a farm in Yorkshire would be culled after the virus was discovered in some birds.

It is currently unclear whether the culling of birds has the potential to threaten poultry supply chains ahead of Christmas.

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nivek

nivek

As Above So Below
Town put under curfew after crows die of bird flu in India, while thousands of other volatiles mysteriously fall from the sky dead in Sri lanka

dead-birds-india-sri-lanka.jpg

Dead birds mysteriously fall from the sky in India and Sri Lanka.

Some really weird thing are going on in our atmosphere since a few days. It’s as if geoengineering had started full power again!

Yesterday, January 1, 2021, hundreds of dead birds covered a street in central Rome, Italy. Meanwhile, reports of dozens of crows falling dead from the sky make the headlines in India.

Authorities in Rajasthan’s Jhalawar town have imposed a curfew in a one-km radius after it was confirmed that 50 crows had died of bird flu recently.

Deaths of 100 crows, peacocks, and other birds have also been reported in Jaipur.

dead-crows-dead-peacocks-bird-flu-india-january-2021-1024x703.jpg

Dead crows and dead peacocks die of bird flu in India in January 2021.

“Avian influenza (bird flu) has been found to be the cause of the death of the crows,” said officials.

The affected area were sanitized and poultry as well as eggs shops were closed on Wednesday evening.

Another mysterious bird mass die-off is currently hitting Sri Lanka, where hundreds of local fowls were found dead. And according to officials, it’s not avian influenza!

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nivek

nivek

As Above So Below
Russia reports world's first case of human infection with H5N8 bird flu

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia has registered the first case of a strain of bird flu virus named A(H5N8) being passed to humans from birds and has reported the matter to the World Health Organization (WHO), Anna Popova, head of consumer health watchdog Rospotrebnadzor, said on Saturday.

Outbreaks of the H5N8 strain have been reported in Russia, Europe, China, the Middle East and North Africa in recent months but so far only in poultry. Other strains - H5N1, H7N9 and H9N2 - have been known Influenza (Avian and other zoonotic) to spread to humans.

Russia reported the case of human infection to the WHO "several days ago, just as we became absolutely certain of our results," Popova said on Rossiya 24 state TV. There was no sign yet of transmission between humans, she added.

Seven workers at a poultry plant in Russia's south had been infected with the H5N8 strain in an outbreak at the plant in December, Popova said, adding that the individuals involved felt fine now. "This situation did not develop further," she said.

In an email WHO's European arm said it had been notified by Russia about a case of human infection with H5N8 and acknowledged this would if confirmed be the first time the strain had infected people.

"Preliminary information indicates that the reported cases were workers exposed to bird flocks," the email said. "They were asymptomatic and no onward human to human transmission was reported. "We are in discussion with national authorities to gather more information and assess the public health impact of this event," the email added.

The majority of human bird flu infections have been associated with direct contact with infected live or dead poultry, though properly cooked food is considered to be safe. Bird flu outbreaks often prompt poultry plants to kill their birds to prevent the virus from spreading, and avoid importing countries having to impose trade restrictions.

The vast majority of cases are spread by migrating wild birds, so producing countries tend to keep their poultry indoors or protected from contact with wildlife. Siberia's Vector Institute said on Saturday it would start developing human tests and a vaccine against H5N8, RIA news agency reported.

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AD1184

AD1184

Celestial
nivek said:
"Preliminary information indicates that the reported cases were workers exposed to bird flocks," the email said. "They were asymptomatic and no onward human to human transmission was reported.
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If true, it could indicate that fears about the H5N8 strain are over-blown.
 
nivek

nivek

As Above So Below
AD1184 said:
If true, it could indicate that fears about the H5N8 strain are over-blown.
Click to expand...

Or maybe it hasn't infected the right person yet with what's needed to mutate and jump further to human to human transmission...

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nivek

nivek

As Above So Below
AD1184 said:
If true
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Key words here, we don't know if Russia is telling everything or being truthful on what they are telling...China lied about covid, Russia could be lying about this...

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AD1184

AD1184

Celestial
nivek said:
Or maybe it hasn't infected the right person yet with what's needed to mutate and jump further to human to human transmission...
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Well, yes, it could mutate and become more transmissible. However, I was thinking more about what this would say about the pathogenicity of the virus, rather than the transmissibility. They claim that seven workers caught it and all were asymptomatic. This is not the case with dangerous avian influenza strains like H5N1 (which cannot yet transmit between people, either, but has infected people who have caught it from birds). H5N1 has a case fatality rate of over 50%.
 
nivek

nivek

As Above So Below
AD1184 said:
Well, yes, it could mutate and become more transmissible. However, I was thinking more about what this would say about the pathogenicity of the virus, rather than the transmissibility. They claim that seven workers caught it and all were asymptomatic. This is not the case with dangerous avian influenza strains like H5N1 (which cannot yet transmit between people, either, but has infected people who have caught it from birds). H5N1 has a case fatality rate of over 50%.
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I'm wondering if perhaps Covid-19 started out this way, it seems there's signs and indications this coronavirus was circulating previous to Nov-Dec 2019...Maybe this coronavirus had a similar beginning, a few first jumps that didn't get too far (false starts) but in short time mutated to a form to more easily pass between humans or it jumped to a person with what the virus needed to co tinge on in humans...I don't know enough about here processes to give anymore than a passing hypothesis...

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nivek

nivek

As Above So Below
If this virus takes off like covid did it should be called the Russian Bird Flu since it began in Russia...Just saying

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nivek

nivek

As Above So Below
Chinese man hospitalized with H5N6 bird flu

A man in China has been hospitalized with the H5N6 strain of avian flu, which is one of several potentially dangerous strains that can infect humans. The 55-year-old man came down with a fever and tested positive for the virus on July 6. He was hospitalized in Bazhong, a city in the province of Sichuan, according to the state-run China Global Television Network, The New York Times reported.

In response to the case, local officials "activated an emergency response and sterilized the area," the broadcaster said. It added that unnamed experts said there was a low risk of large-scale transmission among humans, the Times reported. There was no mention of whether the man was involved in work handling poultry.

The H5N6 virus was first detected eight years ago in Laos, later spreading to China and other countries. Since 2014, 32 cases of human infection with the virus and 19 deaths in Asia have been reported to the World Health Organization, the Times reported. The last human case before this latest one had an onset date of May 13.

Mutations are common in bird flu viruses, so scientists strive to track them closely for indications they're becoming more deadly or contagious, the Times reported. Last year, a team of scientists reported that a new strain of the H1N1 swine flu virus was spreading silently in workers on China's pig farms and should be "urgently" controlled to avoid another pandemic, even though the strain had not caused disease in the people it infected, the Times reported.

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nivek

nivek

As Above So Below
Extremely rare HUMAN case of bird flu detected in the UK as 1 million birds have been culled in bid to halt spread in Lincolnshire

A person living in the south-west of England has caught bird flu, UK officials have confirmed. Cases like this are extremely rare and the individual probably became infected from very close contact with a sick or dead bird.

Experts say there is no evidence of onward spread and all close contacts of the person are being monitored. The individual is currently well and self-isolating, and the risk to the public is very low.

This comes after about one million birds have been culled to stop the spread of bird flu in Lincolnshire. The virus was first confirmed in Lincolnshire on 11 December and 12 outbreaks have so far been confirmed in the county. It comes amid England’s largest outbreak of the H5N1 virus, with 63 confirmed cases since November.

It also comes after Holland announced around 190,000 chickens on two neighbouring farms in the east of the Netherlands will be culled after the highly pathogenic H5N1 bird flu virus was detected on one of the farms, yeterday!

Avian flu, also known as bird flu, is a type of influenza that spreads among birds. The UK has recently seen a large number of outbreaks and incidents of the H5N1 strain of avian influenza in birds across the country.

Human to human transmission of bird flu is very rare.

Some strains of bird flu can pass from birds to people but, again, is rare and requires close, prolonged contact.

First human case of H5 strain in the UK

Officials say the person in question got the infection from “very close, regular contact with a large number of infected birds, which they kept in and around their home over a prolonged period of time.”

The virus they caught is the H5 type that is found in birds, but it is not yet clear whether it is the same H5N1 strain that has been causing recent outbreaks in poultry that have then had to be culled.

This is the first human case of this strain in the UK, although there have been cases elsewhere globally. Being a notifiable disease, The World Health Organization has been informed.

(More on the link)

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nivek

nivek

As Above So Below
U.S. confirms highly pathogenic bird flu at Indiana turkey farm; 29,000 animals culled

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) reported an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian flu in an Indiana turkey flock on Wednesday, the nation’s first case in a commercial poultry operation since 2020.

The outbreak brought swift reaction from importers seeking to limit the spread of the bird flu. China and Korea blocked non-heated poultry meat from Indiana, while Taiwan restricted poultry meat and egg products from the state, the USDA said on its website.

Indiana said the strain of the virus was H5N1 and it was the state’s first case of highly pathogenic bird flu in commercial poultry since 2016, when 400,000 birds were killed. The H5N1 strain has also been found in wild birds along the U.S. East Coast and has caused a wave of outbreaks in poultry across Europe and Asia.

Canada confirmed H5N1 bird flu in a commercial poultry flock in Nova Scotia, triggering varying trade restrictions from importers, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said on Wednesday.

The H5N1 strain “has been wreaking havoc on Asia and Europe,” said Jim Sumner, president of the USA Poultry & Egg Export Council, an industry group. China’s ban on Indiana poultry will likely last 90 days, he said.

Though limited, the trade restrictions and loss of poultry to the disease are a blow to the U.S. farm sector. The USDA said bird flu does not pose an immediate health concern to people.

About 29,000 turkeys at the farm in Dubois County, Indiana, in the south of the state, are being culled to contain the outbreak, state officials said.

The Indiana outbreak is significant because it indicates the strain has entered a migratory pathway for birds called the Mississippi Flyway that includes major U.S. poultry-producing states like Mississippi, Sumner said.

Indiana is the third-largest U.S. turkey producing state, No. 1 in duck production and No. 2 in table eggs and egg-laying chickens, according to the state.

Officials have quarantined the infected farm and said birds from the flock will not enter the food system. They are testing birds in the surrounding area for the disease. [Reuters]



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nivek

nivek

As Above So Below
Chicken producers warn about fast-spreading bird flu spreading across US

US poultry producers are tightening safety measures for their flocks as disease experts warn that wild birds are likely spreading a highly lethal form of avian flu across the country.

Indiana on Wednesday reported highly pathogenic bird flu on a commercial turkey farm, leading China, South Korea and Mexico to ban poultry imports from the state. The outbreak put the US industry on edge at a time that labor shortages are fueling food inflation.

The disease is already widespread in Europe and affecting Africa, Asia and Canada, but the outbreak in Indiana, which is on a migratory bird pathway, particularly rattled U.S. producers. A devastating US bird-flu outbreak in 2015 killed nearly 50 million birds, mostly turkeys and egg-laying chickens in the Midwest.

The United States is the world’s largest producer and second-largest exporter of poultry meat, according to the U.S. government.

“Everyone is just sitting on edge because we know what can happen and we don’t want a repeat of that,” said Denise Heard, vice president of research for the U.S. Poultry & Egg Association, an industry group.

Poultry company Perdue suspended in-person visits to farms to avoid spreading the disease, spokeswoman Diana Souder said. Iowa’s Agriculture Secretary Mike Naig said a confirmed case in the country meant heightened risk for all. “It’s time to move to a higher alert for our livestock producers,” Naig said.

Disease experts said a wild bird likely spread the H5N1 virus, which can be transmitted to humans, to Indiana from the East Coast, where officials have confirmed that wild ducks were infected with the strain.

The U.S. Agriculture Department called the disease low risk to people.

What US poultry producers are doing to safeguard against bird flu

Tyson Foods Inc heightened biosecurity measures in its East Coast facilities after the wild bird infections, the company said on an earnings call on Monday. It said it reduced the number of trips to farms and started taking more time to clean vehicles.

Wild birds from the East Coast may have mixed with those that fly through a migratory path called the Mississippi Flyway that includes Indiana and major poultry-producing states, such as Mississippi and Alabama, experts said.

To better track the disease, the U.S. Agriculture Department said on Friday it will expand monitoring of wild birds to the Mississippi Flyway and another migratory pathway, the Central Flyway, that includes Texas and Nebraska.

“It’s very likely that it can be all over the states – from the East Coast to the West Coast,” Heard said.

Other commercial poultry flocks may become infected as wild birds traverse flyways, though producers have improved safety measures since 2015, said Carol Cardona, an avian health professor at the University of Minnesota.

In one key change, farms often require people who enter poultry barns to change their boots and clothing so they do not bring in contaminated materials like feces or feathers.

“We recognize that the virus could be right outside the door,” Cardona said.

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Standingstones

Standingstones

Celestial
Perhaps we should have some people stake us out on the ground. Then any human, bird or animal can pass over us and drop their viruses and diseases on our bodies!!
 
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