Discussion thread: H5N1 avian flu in US dairy cows including human cases (poultry, dairy workers) - March 24, 2024 +

[Pathfinder]

USDA Press Releases

​Jun 12, 2024
Biden-Harris Administration Announces National Strategy to Reduce Food Loss and Waste and Recycle Organics

Jun 11, 2024
Biden-Harris Administration Announces Nearly $66M for Conservation Work with States, Tribes, Private Landowners as Part of Investing in America Agenda

Jun 11, 2024
Secretary Vilsack Announces USDA and FFAR Innovation Challenge to Catalyze Agricultural Solutions

Jun 5, 2024
Biden-Harris Administration Announces Actions to Strengthen Tribal Food Sovereignty, Co-Stewardship, and Knowledge of Tribal Agriculture Policy

Jun 4, 2024
Agriculture and Interior Departments Invest $2.8 Billion to Protect Public Lands, Support Conservation Efforts Across the United States

Jun 3, 2024
Biden-Harris Administration Outlines Strategic Priorities to Strengthen the Nation’s Response to Wildfire

Jun 3, 2024
Agriculture Secretary Vilsack Statement on the 100th Anniversary of the Designation of the Gila Wilderness, America’s First Wilderness

Jun 3, 2024
USDA Proposes Next Steps to Promote Fairer Poultry Markets, Protect Producers, and Enhance Transparency

Jun 3, 2024
USDA Celebrates National Homeownership Month

May 30, 2024
USDA Announces $824 Million in New Funding to Protect Livestock Health; Launches Voluntary H5N1 Dairy Herd Status Pilot Program

...

https://www.usda.gov/media/press-releases
​

 

[Treyfish]

Global health leader critiques ‘ineptitude’ of U.S. response to bird flu outbreak among cows

By Andrew Joseph June 13, 2024
​

LONDON — Seth Berkley, a longtime and widely respected global health leader, said Thursday that it has been “shocking to watch the ineptitude” of the U.S. response to the avian influenza outbreak among dairy cattle, adding his voice to a chorus of critics.

In a presentation in London about vaccine development, Berkley, the former CEO of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, raised the issue of H5N1 bird flu when discussing whether the world was ready for another pandemic following its experience with Covid-19.


Are we better prepared?” he said. “We could have a long discussion about this, but I would make an argument that H5N1 has suggested that we’re not. I live in Switzerland, but in my home country of the United States, it’s been shocking to watch the ineptitude of just doing the surveillance, being able to talk about it, tracking the infections, understanding where we are. Do we have vaccines? Are they the right vaccines? It is really a challenge. So I’m not sure we have learned anything.”

:tiphat:
https://www.statnews.com/2024/06/13...u-s-response-to-bird-flu-outbreak-among-cows/

​

 

[Pathfinder]

Bird Flu Tests Are Hard To Get. So How Will We Know When To Sound the Pandemic Alarm?

By Amy Maxmen and Arthur Allen JUNE 11, 2024​

​Stanford University infectious disease doctor Abraar Karan has seen a lot of patients with runny noses, fevers, and irritated eyes lately. Such symptoms could signal allergies, covid, or a cold. This year, there’s another suspect, bird flu — but there’s no way for most doctors to know.
...
Scientifically speaking, many diagnostic laboratories could detect the virus. However, red tape, billing issues, and minimal investment are barriers to quickly ramping up widespread availability of testing. At the moment, the Food and Drug Administration has authorized only the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s bird flu test, which is used only for people who work closely with livestock.
...
The CDC has asked farmworkers with flu symptoms to get tested, but researchers are concerned about a lack of outreach and incentives to encourage testing among people with limited job security and access to health care. Further, by testing only on dairy farms, the agency likely would miss evidence of wider spread.

“It’s hard to not compare this to covid, where early on we only tested people who had traveled,” said Benjamin Pinsky, medical director of the clinical virology laboratory at Stanford University. “That left us open to not immediately recognizing that it was transmitting among the community.”
​...
Chu notes this isn’t 2020 — not by a long shot. Hospitals aren’t overflowing with bird flu patients. Also, the country has the tools to do much better this time around, she said, if there’s political will.

For starters, tests that detect the broad category of influenzas that H5N1 belongs to, called influenza A, are FDA-approved and ubiquitous. These are routinely run in the “flu season,” from November to February. An unusual number of positives from these garden-variety flu tests this spring and summer could alert researchers that something is awry.

Doctors, however, are unlikely to request influenza A tests for patients with respiratory symptoms outside of flu season, in part because health insurers may not cover them except in limited circumstances, said Alex Greninger, assistant director of the clinical virology laboratory at the University of Washington.
...
Another obstacle is that the FDA has yet to allow companies to run their influenza A tests using eye swabs, although the CDC and public health labs are permitted to do so. Notably, the bird flu virus was detected only in an eye swab from one farmworker infected this year — and not in samples drawn from the nose or throat.

Overcoming such barriers is essential, Chu said, to ramp up influenza A testing in regions with livestock. “The biggest bang for the buck is making sure that these tests are routine at clinics that serve farmworker communities,” she said, and suggested pop-up testing at state fairs, too.
...
Other means of tracking the H5N1 virus are critical, too. Detecting antibodies against the bird flu in farmworkers would help reveal whether more people have been infected and recovered. And analyzing wastewater for the virus could indicate an uptick in infections in people, birds, or cattle.

As with all pandemic preparedness efforts, the difficulty lies in stressing the need to act before a crisis strikes, Greninger said.

“We should absolutely get prepared,” he said, “but until the government insures some of the risk here, it’s hard to make a move in that direction.”

https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/bird-flu-tests-pandemic-possibility-preparedness/

 

[Pathfinder]

:tiphat:


World Health Organization (WHO)
@WHO
"Since 2003, there have been 893 reported infections of #H5N1 in humans, including 11 so far this year: five in Cambodia, three in the U.S., and one each in Australia, China and Viet Nam. In that time, the virus has not shown signs of having acquired the ability to spread easily among humans." That remains the case, which is why, at this time, WHO continues to assess the risk to public health as low." -
@DrTedros
10:37 AM · Jun 12, 2024​
​
​

WHO Director-General's opening remarks at the media briefing – 12 June 2024

12 June 2024
...
Now to the United States, and the outbreak of H5N1 avian influenza among dairy cattle.

Since our last update five weeks ago, the number of affected dairy herds has almost tripled to 92 in 12 states, the number of human cases has increased from 1 to 3, and the number of people being monitored has more than doubled to 500.

Since 2003, there have been 893 reported infections of H5N1 in humans, including 11 so far this year: five in Cambodia, three in the U.S., and one each in Australia, China and Viet Nam.

In that time, the virus has not shown signs of having acquired the ability to spread easily among humans.

That remains the case, which is why, at this time, WHO continues to assess the risk to public health as low.

In recent years, H5N1 has spread widely among wild birds, poultry, land and marine mammals on several continents.

WHO recommends that anyone working with any infected animals, in any country, should have access to, and use, personal protective equipment.

Follow-up, testing and care of people exposed to the virus should continue systematically.

Early medical care and support, and thorough and timely investigation of every human infection is essential to evaluate and interrupt potential onward transmission between humans.

WHO is monitoring multiple avian flu viruses in humans through the Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System.

Surveillance of flu viruses among animals globally must also be intensified to rapidly detect any changes to the virus that could pose a greater threat to humans.

These systems are only as good as the timely detection and the sharing of viruses and information.

Collaboration, communication and information sharing between the animal and human health sectors is essential in all countries. This is the meaning of One Health.

===

​https://www.who.int/news-room/speec...ng-remarks-at-the-media-briefing-12-june-2024

 

[Treyfish]

Pasteurization may not clear bird flu virus from heavily infected milk

By Nancy Lapid
June 14, 202412:03 PM EDTUpdated 15 min ago​

​​​​​​June 14 (Reuters) - In raw milk samples spiked with high amounts of bird flu virus, small amounts of infectious virus were still detectable after treatment with a standard pasteurization method, researchers said on Friday.
The findings reflect experimental conditions in a laboratory and should not be used to draw any conclusions about the safety of the U.S. milk supply, according to the authors of the study from the U.S. government's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Rocky Mountain Laboratories.​....

​​​​​​The virus used in the experiments had been isolated from the lungs of a dead mountain lion, mixed with raw, unpasteurized cow milk samples, and heat-treated at 63 degrees C (145.4 degrees F)and 72 degrees C (161.6 degrees F) for different periods of time.
After treatment at 72 degrees C for 20 seconds – five seconds longer than the industry standard for pasteurization at that temperature - very small amounts of infectious virus were detected in one of three samples, the study found.​.....
:tiphat:

​​​​​​https://www.reuters.com/business/he...d-flu-virus-heavily-infected-milk-2024-06-14/

 

[Pathfinder]

CORRESPONDENCE

Inactivation of Avian Influenza A(H5N1) Virus in Raw Milk at 63°C and 72°C
Published June 14, 2024
DOI: 10.1056/NEJMc2405488
...
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc2405488#ap1

 

[sharon sanders]

"This finding indicates the potential for a relatively small but detectable quantity of HPAI A(H5N1) virus to remain infectious in milk after 15 seconds at 72°C if the initial titer is sufficiently high, at least under these specific experimental conditions." at above link

 

[Pathfinder]

...
CDC analyzed sera (blood) collected from people of all ages in all 10 HHS regions. Blood samples were collected during the 2022-2023 and 2021-2022 flu seasons. These samples were challenged with H5N1 virus to see whether there was an antibody reaction. Data from this study suggest that there is extremely low to no population immunity to clade 2.3.4.4b A(H5N1) viruses in the United States. Antibody levels remained low regardless of whether or not the participants had gotten a seasonal flu vaccination, meaning that seasonal flu vaccination did not produce antibodies to A(H5N1) viruses. This means that there is little to no pre-existing immunity to this virus and most of the population would be susceptible to infection from this virus if it were to start infecting people easily and spreading from person-to-person. This finding is not unexpected because A(H5N1) viruses have not spread widely in people and are very different from current and recently circulating human seasonal influenza A viruses.
...
https://flutrackers.com/forum/forum/national-international-government-ngo-preparation-response/cdc/h5n1-information/992090-cdc-a-h5n1-bird-flu-response-update-june-14-2024​​
​

 

[Shiloh]

Source: https://www.nih.gov/news-events/new...irus-raw-milk-rapidly-declines-heat-treatment

Infectious H5N1 influenza virus in raw milk rapidly declines with heat treatment
The amount of infectious H5N1 influenza viruses in raw milk rapidly declined with heat treatment in laboratory research.​

What

The amount of infectious H5N1 influenza viruses in raw milk rapidly declined with heat treatment in laboratory research conducted by scientists at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health. However, small, detectable amounts of infectious virus remained in raw milk samples with high virus levels when treated at 72 degrees Celsius (161.6 degrees Fahrenheit) for 15 seconds—one of the standard pasteurization methods used by the dairy industry. The authors of the study stress, however, that their findings reflect experimental conditions in a laboratory setting and are not identical to large-scale industrial pasteurization processes for raw milk. The findings were published today in the New England Journal of Medicine​...

...
Article

F Kaiser et al. Inactivation rate of highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 virus (clade 2.3.4.4b) in raw milk at 63 and 72 degrees Celsius. The New England Journal of Medicine DOI: 10.1056/NEJMc2405488 (2024).
Who

Vincent Munster, Ph.D., and Emmie de Wit, Ph.D., senior investigators in NIAID’s Laboratory of Virology at the Rocky Mountain Laboratories in Hamilton, Mont., are available to discuss the findings.​..

 

[Treyfish]

US Dairy Cows Dying and Being Culled Due to Avian Flu

Jun 10, 2024

.....​​​“In South Dakota, a 1,700-cow dairy sent a dozen of the animals to slaughter after they did not recover from the virus, and killed another dozen that contracted secondary infections, said Russ Daly, a professor with South Dakota State University and veterinarian for the state extension office who spoke with the farm,” Douglas and Polansek reported. “…A farm in Michigan killed about 10% of its 200 infected cows after they too failed to recover from the virus, said Phil Durst, an educator with Michigan State University Extension who spoke with that farm.”

....“In Colorado, some dairies reported culling cows with avian flu because they did not return to milk production, said Olga Robak, spokesperson for the state Department of Agriculture,” Douglas and Polansek reported. “…Ohio Department of Agriculture spokesperson Meghan Harshbarger said infected cows have died in Ohio and other affected states, mostly due to secondary infections. The Texas Animal Health Commission also confirmed that cows have died from secondary infections at some dairy operations with avian flu outbreaks.”

“New Mexico’s state veterinarian, Samantha Uhrig, said farmers increasingly culled cows due to decreased milk production early in the outbreak, before the U.S. even confirmed bird flu was infecting cattle. Culling decreased as farmers learned that most cows gradually recovered, she said,” Douglas and Polansek reported. “…Officials in North Carolina and Kansas said there have been few to no cow deaths associated with bird flu in their states. Idaho officials did not respond to requests for information.”
​.....
:tiphat:https://www.farms.com/news/us-dairy-cows-dying-and-being-culled-due-to-avian-flu-211605.aspx

 

[Pathfinder]

FAO assesses risk of foodborne avian influenza A (H5N1) transmission as negligible


14/06/2024
...
The only people who have contracted avian influenza A (H5N1) are those with close contact with live or dead animals with the disease. Thus, it is the contact with infected, sick, or animals— from breathing the virus into the lungs or contact with the eyes—that poses a risk for human infection, albeit this risk is low to moderate. Individuals in contact with infected animals should take precautions, like wearing protective equipment, to reduce their risks of infection.

When it comes to food, the avian influenza A (H5N1) virus was reported in meat and in eggs from infected poultry over 25 years ago. More recently, fragments of non-infectious virus have been detected in pasteurized milk and in the muscle tissue from one infected dairy cow. Pasteurization and cooking are extremely effective at destroying the virus, reducing the risk that consumers will be exposed to infectious viruses. There have been no confirmed cases of people becoming infected from eating foods contaminated with avian influenza A (H5N1) virus.

Consumption of only milk that has been pasteurized and fully cooking eggs and meat is strongly encouraged, as these food safety practices reduce the risks associated with other microbiological hazards (e.g. Salmonella, Listeria) in foods. Consumers should feel confident that they will not acquire avian influenza A (H5N1) from food. FAO continues to follow the science surrounding this issue and will update their assessment as necessary.
​
...

https://flutrackers.com/forum/forum...-a-h5n1-transmission-as-negligible-14-06-2024

 

[Pathfinder]

Influenza A Virus Wastewater Data

Updated June 13, 2024

Main Findings from Wastewater Surveillance

During the two most recent weeks, (May 26, 2024–June 8, 2024), a total of 345 of 737 sites reported data meeting criteria for analysis for influenza A virus for both weeks or for either week, and 2 (<1%) sites from 1 state were at a high level (>80th percentile compared to levels recorded at that site between October 1, 2023 and March 2, 2024).
...
Data Table
...
Id:498 7 Illinois Will Above Average 69.44 Two-Week Maximum 50,000 2022-10-10
Id:1738 7 Oregon Linn Above Average 60.87 Two-Week Maximum 60,000 2021-09-29
Id:472 7 Illinois Madison Above Average 67.86 Two-Week Maximum 30,000 2022-12-12
Id:1729 7 Oregon Jackson Above Average 60.0 Two-Week Maximum 20,000 2021-09-27
Id:1755 7 Oregon Washington Above Average 61.9 Two-Week Maximum 40,000 2021-09-15
Id:1734 8 Oregon Lane Above Average 76.19 Two-Week Maximum 240,000 2021-09-27
Id:547 7 Kansas Johnson Above Average 62.16 Two-Week Maximum 70,000 2023-09-17
Id:362-B 8 Hawaii Honolulu Above Average 76.47 Two-Week Maximum 20,000 2023-06-26
Id:487 10 Illinois Saint Clair High 97.44 Two-Week Maximum 90,000 2022-10-06
Id:476 9 Illinois Morgan High 80.65 Two-Week Maximum 20,000 2022-10-05
...
https://www.cdc.gov/nwss/wastewater-surveillance/Flu-A-data.html

 

[Treyfish]

Avian flu spread in cows not being tracked, posing greater risk of human transmission


Mark Lyons, a senior USDA animal health official, said federal officials are “still working closely to understand the breadth” of the bird flu outbreak in the nation’s dairy herds.​
By DAVID LIM and MEREDITH LEE HILL

06/17/2024 05:00 AM EDT
Reliance on individual dairy farmers to help track the spread of avian flu is leaving the federal government without the data necessary to understand — and slow — the virus’ spread in the U.S.

The biggest challenge for the federal response, agriculture and public health officials told POLITICO, is that the more the virus spreads among dairy cows, the more opportunity it has to mutate and become easier to jump to additional humans. The number of documented infected dairy herds in recent weeks has risen rapidly — and several other states have confirmed initial infections in cows.

​.... But many dairy farmers are declining to test their cows, leaving the nation vulnerable to a situation in which federal officials won’t have adequate warning if the virus evolves and poses a greater risk of infection to people.

“The longer this is prevalent in animal farms and livestock operations across the state, the greater the opportunity is for future mutations in animals or human risks in different ways going forward,”

......The federal response is largely focusing on voluntary efforts by farmers to help track and contain the outbreak. But many farms still have not signed up for USDA efforts to boost surveillance and testing for the virus. To date, 94 herds across 12 states have tested positive for bird flu, but the testing has covered a mere fraction of the nation’s nine million dairy cattle. Only about 45 exposed and symptomatic humans have been tested for avian flu, CDC Principal Deputy Director Nirav Shah said in a Thursday briefing with reporters.....

:tiphat:
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/06/17/avian-flu-spread-response-00163294

 

[Treyfish]

1 day left to register for #NFID #CME webinar on 6/18/24 at 12PM ET with experts from

Learn more and register online: http://nfid.org/webinars

​

 

[Treyfish]

Scientists try to solve bird flu mystery: Why there's so much virus in Michigan wastewater

Kristen Jordan Shamus
Detroit Free Press


Newly released wastewater surveillance data suggests Michigan is a national hot spot for the highly pathogenic avian influenza virus that's infecting poultry, dairy cows and other mammals across the US, and has also been identified in three farmworkers — two in Michigan.

Researchers told the Free Press they're still trying to understand exactly why samples from all six of Michigan's wastewater testing sites monitored by WastwaterSCAN show high levels of the H5 influenza A virus — the most detections of any of the 38 states with sampling sites — even in areas like Jackson and Warren, where there are no known H5N1 outbreaks among dairy cows, poultry or people this year.

"It's clear that there's something going on," said......

Among the questions scientists are trying to answer:

• Are there more infected dairy cattle in the state than is currently known?
• Are people unknowingly infected, carrying the virus and excreting H5 particles into the wastewater system?
• Or is there some other source that's causing Michigan's H5 wastewater detections to rise above other states?

​.....
from 38 of the 50 states and the District of Columbia dating to May 21.

Only six states had detections of the virus in the wastewater — California, Idaho, Iowa, Minnesota, Michigan and Texas — as of Monday. Of them all, Michigan was the only state with high levels detected at each of its six testing sites: Ann Arbor, Jackson, Jenison, Mount Pleasant, Traverse City and Warren.

.....
"Clearly, there's a lot of virus in the wastewater," said Richard Webby, director of the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Studies on the Ecology of Influenza in Animals and Birds and a member of the faculty at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

Whether that virus is coming from waste runoff from cattle farms with infected cows or other animals, discharge of untreated milk into the wastewater system from production facilities, or someplace else, however, isn't easy to untangle.....:tiphat:
​
​​​​​​https://www.freep.com/story/news/health/2024/06/17/bird-flu-michigan-wastewater/74047810007/

 

[Commonground]

Illinois State Fair will begin soon.
Last year:
700,000 attendees
SPRINGFIELD, IL - Today, Governor JB Pritzker announced record-setting attendance totals for the 2023 Illinois State Fair. The more than 700,000 attendees over the 11-day event make the 2023 fair the most highly attended fair since industry standards were enacted.​

There is NO mention of H5N1, Avian Influenza in Dairy Cows mentioned here in this years requirements to attend.

For Health Requirement Information:

Illinois Department of Agriculture Bureau of Animal Health and Welfare State Fairgrounds P.O. Box 19281 Springfield, IL 62794-9281 Phone (217) 782-4944

2024 Exhibition Livestock Health Requirements State Fairs
​
Excerpt:

1. CVI means a legible record made on an official form from the state of origin which has been issued, signed and dated by an accredited veterinarian and which shows the name and address of the animal’s owner or exhibitor and the results of all required tests or vaccinations. A CVI shall list only one animal identification per line; shall be presented on the form on which it was initially issued; and shall not be corrected, changed or altered in any manner.
2. All animals shall be officially identified. The animal(s) official identification shall be recorded on the CVI.

Animal identification number (AIN): A numbering system for the official identification of individual animals in the United States that provides a nationally unique identification number for each animal. The AIN consists of 15 digits, with the first 3 being the country code (840 for the United States or a unique country code for any U.S. territory that has such a code and elects to use it in place of the 840 code).

4. If animals are from tuberculosis accredited, brucellosis certified, pseudorabies qualified, or brucellosis validated herds, the identifying herd number(s) along with the date of the last herd test(s) shall appear on the CVI.

1. CVIs for out-of-state livestock shall be void thirty (30) days after issuance.
2. CVIs for Illinois-origin livestock shall be void ninety (90) days after issuance.
3. All livestock shall be subject to examination upon entry to any Illinois fair or exhibition. Any animal showing evidence of infectious, contagious or communicable diseases shall be immediately withdrawn and held in quarantine at the owner’s risk and expense until properly treated and recovered, or until the animal is released to return to the owner’s premise.
   
   Any livestock infected with scabies, mange, active lesions of ringworm, soremouth, or multiple warts which are easily visible without close examination shall not be permitted to exhibit and are subject to quarantine or removal from the fairgrounds.
   
   Sheep and goats with caseous lymphadenitis as evidenced by draining abscesses shall not be exhibited and are subject to immediate quarantine or removal from the fairgrounds.
   
   In the event of the suspicion of or diagnosis of a foreign animal disease, emerging animal disease, or other actionable disease, animals may be subject to quarantine on the fairgrounds until such time that it is determined that the disease is no longer a threat.

-SNIP-

CATTLE

Identification

Individual identification of each animal shall be by a USDA official animal identification number ear tag, (“840” tag).
Beginning in 2025, the tag must be able to be read both visually and electronically.

Illinois Cattle

Brucellosis
Illinois is a Bovine Brucellosis Class-Free State. Brucellosis testing is not required for Illinois cattle.

TuberculosisIllinois is an Accredited Tuberculosis- Free State. Tuberculin testing is not required for Illinois cattle.

Please note: Illinois calves under 6 months of age are not required to have a Certificate of Veterinary Inspection.

Out-of-State-Cattle

All out-of-state cattle are to be accompanied by an entry permit. Entry permit numbers are available online at https://entrypermit.agr.illinois.gov/Login.aspx.

Brucellosis

1. Female cattle six (6) months of age and older and bulls eighteen (18) months of age and older
   
   shall be negative to an official test for brucellosis within thirty (30) days prior to entry, unless exempt by one (1) of the following:
   
   A. Originate directly from a certified brucellosis-free herd.
   B. Official vaccinates of dairy breeds under twenty (20) months of age or official
   
   vaccinates of beef breeds under twenty-four (24) months of age.
   C. Animaloriginatedfroma“ClassFree”state(ifentirestat eissoclassified) D. Steers and spayed heifers are not required to be tested for brucellosis.
2. The negative brucellosis test shall be conducted at a state or federal laboratory within 30 days prior to exhibition.

Tuberculosis

1. Accredited Tuberculosis Free States
   
   A. No tuberculin test required. All cattle, including steers, originating from an Accredited Tuberculosis Free State, may enter Illinois for exhibition when accompanied by a CVI issued by an accredited veterinarian within 30 days.
2. Non-Accredited Tuberculosis Free Areas or States (Not TB Free)
   A. Cattle must originate from a herd where a complete herd test was conducted within the
   
   past year.

B. The individual animals entering Illinois must be negative to an additional tuberculin

3

Illinois Swine

test conducted within 30 days prior to exhibition.
C. CattlethatenterIllinoisforexhibitionandremaininIll inois(animaldoesnotreturnto

the state of origin within 30 days) must be isolated and retested for TB 60-120 days from the last official TB test date.
​

​

... https://statefair.illinois.gov/cont...efair/competitions/documents/isfhealthreq.pdf

 

[sharon sanders]

Post




See new posts Conversation


Kai Kupferschmidt

@kakape
·
12h


One question at the heart of the #h5n1 outbreak in US cows has been: Is there something special about this virus? Or is H5N1 generally able to do this and this particular version was just "in the right place at the right time"? Quick thread, because it seems we have an answer


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Kai Kupferschmidt

@kakape
·
12h


Researchers in Germany have done an experiment in a high-security lab infecting cows directly with the strain of #H5N1 circulating in cows in the US (B3.13) and infecting others with an #h5n1 strain from a wild bird in Germany. (I wrote about the plans here:
Show more


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Kai Kupferschmidt

@kakape
·
12h


In both cases they infected the udders directly through the teats and in both cases the animals got sick. They "showed clear signs of disease such as a sharp drop in milk production, changes in milk consistency and fever." That suggests there is nothing special about B3.13.


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Kai Kupferschmidt

@kakape
·
12h


I would say that this was always the more plausible scenario (most researchers I talked to certainly felt that way) but this virus has surprised us so many times (as
@HelenBranswell
wrote up so nicely), so it's good to have data.

Bird flu keeps rewriting the textbooks. It’s why scientists are unsettled by the U.S. dairy cattle...
From statnews.com


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Kai Kupferschmidt

@kakape
·
12h


The result suggests two things (at the least): 1. There is a realistic risk of spillover to cows anywhere where #H5N1 is circulating. 2. A lot of things probably have to come together for this to happen, because in spite of the virus being widespread, cow infections are not.


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Kai Kupferschmidt

@kakape
·
12h


The researchers are writing up their results and hopefully we will have more information soon (because these experiments could help clarify other questions), but I'm glad that
@Loeffler_News
put out a short press release with this result

fli.de
Avian influenza: No evidence of H5N1 infection in dairy cows outside the USA
– German virus isolate can replicate in cow's udder after experimental infection


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Kai Kupferschmidt

@kakape
·
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While we are on Germany: It's worth pointing out that researchers have been testing milk samples here with PCR and testing cows for antibodies. So far 350 milk samples and 1400 cow serum samples have all been negative.


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Kai Kupferschmidt

@kakape


While the researchers say the risk of cattle here becoming infected with avian influenza appears very low, they also warn that "increased vigilance is recommended and HPAI H5 should also be considered in investigations, especially in the case of unclear and frequent cases of disease in dairy herds"
8:28 AM · Jun 20, 2024
·
9,336
Views​

 

[Pathfinder]

From Kai Kupferschmidt (above):

... "in the right place at the right time"?
...
"The result suggests two things (at the least): 1. There is a realistic risk of spillover to cows anywhere where [HASHTAG="c2811"]H5N1[/HASHTAG] is circulating. 2. A lot of things probably have to come together for this to happen, because in spite of the virus being widespread, cow infections are not."

Hat tip to Lance and Michael Coston for this link:
...
Since the first detection of the pathogen 27 years ago in many countries, particularly in Asia, there has been possible contact of ruminants such as water buffalo and cattle with the faeces of infected wild birds, but no similar infection events have ever been observed. The exact circumstances that led to the outbreak in the USA are still unknown.
...
https://www.fli.de/en/news/short-me...fektionen-bei-milchkuehen-ausserhalb-der-usa/

 

[Pathfinder]

Influenza A Virus Wastewater Data

Updated June 20, 2024

Main Findings from Wastewater Surveillance

During the two most recent weeks, (June 2, 2024–June 15, 2024), a total of 328 of 727 sites reported data meeting criteria for analysis for influenza A virus for both weeks or for either week, and 3 (<1%) sites from 1 state were at a high level (>80th percentile compared to levels recorded at that site between October 1, 2023 and March 2, 2024).
...
Data Table
...
Id:454 7 Illinois Lake Above Average 61.63 Two-Week Maximum 60,000 2022-10-05
Id:549 8 Kansas Johnson Above Average 70.27 Two-Week Maximum 150,000 2023-09-17
Id:439 7 Illinois Du Page Above Average 60.98 Two-Week Maximum 160,000 2022-10-10
Id:1734 8 Oregon Lane Above Average 76.19 Two-Week Maximum 240,000 2021-09-27
Id:149 7 California San Francisco Above Average 68.42 Two-Week Maximum <10,000 2022-12-29
Id:488 8 Illinois Sangamon Above Average 73.75 Two-Week Maximum 100,000 2023-02-14
Id:548 7 Kansas Johnson Above Average 65.79 Two-Week Maximum 110,000 2023-09-17
Id:362-B 8 Hawaii Honolulu Above Average 70.59 Two-Week Maximum 20,000 2023-06-26
Id:452 9 Illinois Knox High 83.78 Two-Week Maximum 40,000 2022-10-06
Id:462 10 Illinois Mchenry High 93.18 Two-Week Maximum <10,000 2022-10-05
Id:487 10 Illinois Saint Clair High 97.44 Two-Week Maximum 90,000 2022-10-06
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https://www.cdc.gov/nwss/wastewater-surveillance/Flu-A-data.html

 

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CDC Flu

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Wondering how #H5N1 bird flu is spreading in dairy cows? This graphic illustrates what is currently known about how spread is happening.  
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11:50 AM · Jun 20, 2024​