H5N1: bird flu
POSTED BY: SIGNYM
UPDATED: Saturday, January 4, 2025 05:13
VIEWED: 391
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I suppose it deserves its own thread, since it's been rumbling around in the background for a couple of years now.
Just my quick, un-researched take on it:
It's a flu. There are many kinds of viruses 'out there" - enteroviruses (gut viruses), various "pox" viruses, cold viruses, hepatitis viruses, epstein-barr viruses, Ebola viruses, immunodeficiency viruses ... they're all crazy different from each other. Singke strand, double strand, RNA, DNA-based, reverse sense, shape, size ... not avirologist but I appeciate that there's a whole zoo of viruses must of us know nothing abour. We tend to call them "colds" and "flu" indiscriminately.
Only the HxNy viruses are flu viruses, and bird flu is just that: an H5N1 flu virus. The kind of virus you might get a shot for each year. (I looked up flu viruses, and between the varios forms of the H protein and the N protein, there's something like 120 different combinations.)
Like all flu, some are more serious than others. This particular virus is exceptionally consequential to poultry and some species of birds. It also apparently infects cows, but appears not to be fatal to them. Maybe it gives them the sniffles, I don't know. But if cows react like people do to flu, they'll recover and have an immunity to that particular mutation.
So far, it rarely affects people, those who work around poultry or cows, and then, only mildly. It can be spread by infected meat or milk (they say) but is inactivated by heat, so don't drink raw milk or eat raw meat.
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MORE THAN YOU EVER WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT BIRD FLU, FROM THE AMERICAN VETERINARY MEDICAL ASSN (AVMA)
Quote:It doesn't kill cows
Last updated: December 23, 2024
On March 25, [2024] the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), specifically avian influenza virus type A (H5N1), had been identified in U.S. dairy cattle for the first time. Here are important details on this rapidly evolving situation:
Avian influenza virus type A (H5N1) has been confirmed in dairy cattle in 16 states: 660 herds in California, 64 in Colorado, 35 in Idaho, 29 in Michigan, 27 in Texas, 13 each in Iowa and Utah, nine each in Minnesota and New Mexico, seven in South Dakota, four in Kansas, two in Oklahoma, and one each in Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, and Wyoming. Get updates on detections here and answers to frequently asked questions here.
Tests so far indicate that the virus detected in dairy cattle is H5N1, Eurasian lineage goose/Guangdong clade 2.3.4.4b. This is the same clade that has been affecting wild birds and commercial poultry flocks and that has caused sporadic infections in several species of wild and domestic mammals in the United States.
Common clinical signs in affected cows include low appetite, reduced milk production, and abnormal appearance of milk (thickened, discolored). Lactating cows have been most highly affected, and signs of illness have been reported in less than 10% of cows within a herd.
Quote:So spread has been mostly, if not completely, between domesticated animals
While avian influenza virus type A (H5N1) is associated with high morbidity and mortality in birds ("highly pathogenic"), this hasn't been the case for dairy cattle. Most affected animals reportedly recover with supportive treatment, and the mortality/culling rate has been low at 2% or less.
The spread of the H5N1 virus within and among herds indicates that bovine-to-bovine spread occurs. Overall, animal movement is a recognized risk for disease transmission. Evidence also indicates that the virus can spread from dairy cattle premises to nearby poultry facilities. Potential risk factors for local transmission between facilities include shared personnel between premises; shared, uncleaned vehicles and equipment between premises; and frequent visitors on/off premises.
There currently is no genomic or epidemiologic evidence that wild birds are spreading H5N1 to cattle, but this possibility cannot be ruled out.
Quote:
The USDA has urged veterinarians and producers to practice good biosecurity; monitor for, separate, and test sick animals; minimize cattle movements; and isolate and monitor any newly received dairy cattle for 30 days upon arrival. In addition, since April 29, a federal order has been in effect, requiring testing of lactating dairy cattle for HPAI prior to interstate movement, and reporting of positive nucleic acid detection and serology results for livestock to the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). While the movement restriction initially applies to lactating dairy cows, this may be adjusted based on an evolving scientific understanding of the disease and risks. Find answers to frequently asked questions about the order here and guidance for producers and veterinarians here.
At the state level, at least 22 states have issued restrictions on the importation of dairy cattle:
Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, and West Virginia. State-specific restrictions on cattle movement must be followed in addition to federal requirements. If and where a particular state’s requirements are more restrictive than the federal order, that state’s requirements must be followed.
Michigan issued an emergency order on May 1NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
If this were Twitter in 2021, you'd have gotten banned for writing that.
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Quote:Hahaha!
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
If this were Twitter in 2021, you'd have gotten banned for writing that.
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"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore." ~Paul Simon
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