H5N1 Bird Flu Updates

[Ellie]

You can pry my mask from my cold, dead fingers. At least I won't have died from something I caught from some asshat sneezing all over me at the grocery store checkout.

 

[Myradyl Muse]

I'm still dealing with a slew of relatives who both deny the reality of Covid, the need for ANY vaccines for ANYTHING, the need to distance/mask for pandemics, AND who take pleasure in mocking and jeering at someone like me who is fully vaccinated to the latest variant, influenza, pneumonia and RSV (because, as they all know, I've had open heart surgery duh!). I've also been a nurse for 30+ years and taught, among other things, community Infectious Control programs plus conducted Flu Clinics for nursing students.
But sure, knock yourself out, listen to Joe Rogan (who is their messiah), and mock the scientific health care professional and vulnerable member of your family. They also, surprise surprise, refuse to allow any of us to discuss this and do a LaLaLa hands over my ears I don't hear you maneuver. They solidified into a circular brain clusterf*k.

My point, beyond the rabid unscientific selfishness/thoughtlessness and sheer pig headedness of it, is the so sad socially isolating effect and family-splitting that it has created. Breaks my heart, which is already half-broken.

 

[Free]

An additional $306 million. That will sure tide us over through the Trump administration...

 

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Start Your Engines!

 

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Bald eagle found in Hinsdale felled by bird flu

A bald eagle that was spotted standing on the street last week in Hinsdale was suspected of having bird flu and euthanized.

www.chicagotribune.com

I laughed.

 

[Free]

Hundreds of Ducks Found Dead of Suspected Bird Flu Around Chicago

23 million birds have contracted H5N1 in the U.S. in the past 30 days, according to USDA.

gizmodo.com

Roughly 200-300 ducks have been found dead in Chicago and the northern suburbs around Lake Michigan in recent days, according to a new report from local news outlet NBC5. The red-breasted mergansers have died of suspected bird flu, according to local experts who spoke with NBC5, though it doesn’t appear tests have confirmed that suspicion definitively yet.

About 50 ducks were found over the weekend at Chicago’s North Avenue Beach in Lincoln Park and 50 more were found on Oak Street Beach, according to NBC5. And at least the same number, “if not more,” were found floating in the water at each beach.

At least 22.96 million birds have been confirmed to have contracted H5N1 bird flu in the U.S. during the past 30 days alone, according to data from the USDA’s website, with 82 commercial flocks and 42 backyard flocks identified. But those numbers don’t even include wild birds found dead like the ones in Chicago.

 

[Free]

Chicago Sun-Times (@chicago.suntimes.com)

A bald eagle was found dead from suspected bird flu in recent days in a forested area of the northwest suburbs, another signal of how serious the disease has gotten for wild creatures as well as farm animals. https://buff.ly/4hEPHNp

bsky.app

 

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Surge pricing to the power of contractor rates. Paid in advance.

 

[Casey Pelous]

Surge pricing to the power of contractor rates. Paid in advance.

But what if they hire them back and their answer isn't, "Just say there's no problem, everything is fine?"

 

[Free]

With all these "accidents" in the Trump administration going on, the "blank DAYS SINCE LAST INCIDENT" sign industry is going to take off.

Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur.bsky.social)

USDA says it accidentally fired officials working on bird flu and is trying to rehire them In a statement, an Agriculture Department spokesperson told NBC News that officials are "working to swiftly rectify the situation."...

bsky.app

 

[Free]

Not good. Not good at all.

Bird flu-infected San Bernardino County dairy cows may have concerning new mutation

A new H5N1 bird flu mutation has appeared in a cluster of infected dairy cows. It's a genetic change that scientists say could not only make the virus more lethal, but increase its spread between mammals and possibly humans.

www.latimes.com

Scientists are sounding alarms about a genetic mutation that was recently identified in four dairy cow herds, nearly one year after H5N1 bird flu was first reported in Texas dairy cattle.

Although not confirmed, scientists believe the infected herds are located in San Bernardino County, where health officials announced a dairy outbreak last week.

The genetic mutation is one that researchers have dreaded finding because it is associated with increased mammal-to-mammal transmission and disease severity.

“That is the mutation found in the first human case, which was extremely pathogenic in ferrets,” said Yoshihiro Kawaoka, an infectious disease expert at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Tokyo. “Finding the same mutation in cows is significant.”

 

[Free]

His worm-scrambled brains are going to kill us all (if Trump and Musk don't do it first).

RFK, Jr. Wants to Let Bird Flu Spread on Poultry Farms. Why Experts Are Concerned

Health secretary RFK, Jr. has repeatedly suggested that farmers should let bird flu spread through flocks. Experts explain why that’s a dangerous idea

www.scientificamerican.com

 

[Free]

*shrugs*

The US hasn’t seen a human bird flu case in 3 months. Experts are wondering why

Health officials are making a renewed call for vigilance against bird flu, but some experts are puzzling over why reports of new human cases have stopped.

Has the search for cases been weakened by government cuts? Are immigrant farm workers, who have accounted for many of the U.S. cases, more afraid to come forward for testing amid the Trump administration’s deportation push? Is it just a natural ebb in infections?

“We just don’t know why there haven’t been cases,” said Jennifer Nuzzo, director of the Pandemic Center at Brown University. “I think we should assume there are infections that are occurring in farmworkers that just aren’t being detected.”