Are we at the edge of another pandemic? H5N1

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More information about the outbreak in Oregon.

The highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) was detected last week in a backyard flock in Crook County and in chickens at a commercial egg farm in Clackamas County, according to the Oregon Department of Agriculture.

The birds — about 70 poultry and domestic waterfowl in eastern Crook County and 150,000 chickens at the egg facility — were euthanized to prevent the spread of the disease.

2 more outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza detected in Oregon

Here is a history of this deadly H5N1 influenza.

The avian influenza A H5N1 was first detected in southern China in 1996. In 1997, a significant outbreak of H5N1 avian influenza occurred among farmed chickens in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, marking the first reported case of H5N1 crossing the species barrier to infect humans. This initial outbreak resulted in 18 human infections and 6 fatalities. Although the outbreak was controlled at that time, H5N1 persisted in avian species. It re-emerged in 2003 and widely spread among birds across Asia and subsequently to Africa, Europe, and the Middle East, leading to poultry outbreaks and sporadic human infections. By late 2003, Southeast Asia had experienced successive H5N1 outbreaks, with the number of infections and deaths peaking in 2006. Since then, almost all such cases have been annually reported. From 1997 to May 26, 2024, 911 human H5N1 infections were reported across 24 countries, with most cases reported between 2004 and 2016, predominantly in Asia and Africa. Between 2003 and 2024, 896 individuals were confirmed to have contracted HPAI H5N1 with 463 reported deaths, resulting in an approximate fatality rate of 52%.

Are we prepared for the next pandemic: Monitor on increasing human and animal H5N1 avian influenza infection

One of the potential approaches to combating H5N1 in humans is being tested by France. On 28 Oct 2024, 1:58 pm on this thread, I discussed an effort by the French to vaccinate domestic birds (ducks and chickens). A recent article tries to throw a damper on this approach today. But perhaps they are looking at it from the wrong direction.

France confirms avian flu in vaccinated flocks

Ducks were found to be positive for the HPAI virus following routine testing, despite them showing no symptoms of the disease. The two affected farms are in Morbihan in Brittany (Bretagne) in the northwest of France. Having suffered devastating series of HPAI outbreaks in recent years, this might not appear to be a significant development. However, the birds involved were commercial ducks, and they had been vaccinated against avian flu.

According to this source, the ducks were found to be positive for the HPAI virus following routine testing. They had shown no symptoms of the disease. The development will have significant economic impacts on the department’s poultry producers, the official said. Breeders will be unable to re-stock depleted flocks while movement restrictions are in place. One of the directly impacted farmers was planning to receive a new batch of ducks to produce foie-gras for the end-of-year holiday period.

Maybe they are looking at this from the wrong direction. Perhaps the vaccination program worked perfectly. The ducks were treated and developed an immunity from dying. Sure they showed signs of becoming infected. But they survived. Maybe they now have a type of natural immunity. Why kill them? They had shown no symptoms of the disease.

Cats have been infected with H5N1 and died. I wonder if you feed these vaccinated exposed ducks to cats as food if it might pass on an H5N1 immunity to cats. If so, it might be a pathway for providing immunity to humans.

Perhaps there is a solution to the spread of H5N1 across the bird/animal/human species.
Two of the animals that are currently dying in the United States from H5N1 are Mice and Cats.
I have discussed this in this thread earlier.
These are important species because they are in very close proximity to humans. Many live in our homes.
So perhaps there is a piece of a solution to preventing another plague, this time H5N1.

France has begun a program of vaccinating some of their birds (ducks and chickens).
But the ducks were found to be positive for the HPAI virus following routine testing.
They had shown no symptoms of the disease.
So even though they experienced the deadly disease, they survived.
Can the same approach be used on animals. If a cat consumes a vaccinated duck, will it also build up an immune response to H5N1. Remember cats live in our homes and if we can prevent them from becoming infected, it will be a great step to protecting humans.
But cats are not the only close animal that lives in our homes. The other one is mice.
When a cat attacks a mouse, he doesn't just kill and eat the mouse. He plays with it.
He corners it. It tries to fight back but what can a mouse do? Sometimes a mouse will play dead. It stops moving and the cat turns it's attention away because the mouse is dead. But it is not dead. It waits for several minutes and then when the cat is looking away, the mouse slides away to live another day.
So if you can develop a vaccinated duck perhaps you can use this to spread H5N1 resistance to cats and mice. Then eventually learn how to spread the resistance to humans.

H5N1 Bird Flu is on the move. It has crossed over to strike another species - pigs.

U.S. Detects H5N1 Bird Flu in a Pig for the First Time

H5N1 bird flu was confirmed in a pig on a backyard farm in Oregon, the first detection of the virus in swine in the country, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said.

Pigs were the source of the H1N1 flu pandemic in 2009-2010, and have been implicated as the source of others, said Richard Webby, a St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital virologist who studies flu in animals and birds for the World Health Organization.
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The numbers are rising.

Bird flu detected in two pigs at small Oregon farm

Highly pathogenic avian influenza has been detected in two pigs at a small farm in Crook County, Ore., in the first instance of the virus infecting pigs in the U.S. One of the sick pigs was full size while the other was a teacup pig housed in a chicken coop, said Dr. Ryan Scholz, state veterinarian.

Five pigs and 70 birds in a backyard flock, including chickens, ducks and geese, have been euthanized at the Crook County property to prevent the spread of the highly contagious virus, according to the ODA.

H5N1 Bird Flu is on the move in poultry in Western States.

Avian influenza strikes two California broiler flocks

The presence of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) was confirmed in two commercial broiler flocks in California on October 29. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) reported that both of the flocks were in Kings County. California has now had five commercial poultry flocks affected by H5N1 HPAI this fall, with the other instances being two commercial broiler flocks in Tulare County and a commercial meat turkey flock in Merced County. California has also had 142 commercial dairy herds affected by H5N1 over the past 30 days, APHIS reported.

Other states to have commercial poultry flocks hit by HPAI in September and October include Utah, Oregon and Washington. Also recently affected are commercial poultry flocks in the Canadian provinces of British Columbia and Saskatchewan.

The U.S. is expanding its monitoring program in milk supplies.

U.S. to Begin Bulk Milk Testing for Bird Flu After Push from Industry

The U.S. Department of Agriculture will soon begin testing bulk raw milk across the country for bird flu, a significant expansion of the agency’s efforts to stifle the rapid spread of the virus, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told Reuters.

The move comes after livestock and veterinary groups pushed the USDA to strengthen its current surveillance approach, calling it inadequate to contain the virus, according to state records and industry documents reviewed by Reuters.

Add one more to the list. We are now up to 39 human cases of H5N1 in the U.S.

A total of 39 people have tested positive in the U.S. this year, including nine from Washington, as the virus has infected poultry flocks and spread to more than 400 dairy herds, federal data show. All of the cases were farm workers who had known contact with infected animals, except for one person in Missouri.

The people from Washington cleaned facilities at an infected chicken farm after birds were culled to contain the virus.

Source: Oregon Identifies 3 Human Cases of Bird Flu in Farm Workers From Washington State

Birds are the global transmission agent for H5N1

An interesting thought came to mind during the night. The outbreaks of H5N1 in humans may be related to the flight path of birds. Birds fly north during the spring and south during the fall. The current outbreaks in humans this year seem to display the same pattern. If you look at the human cases of H5N1 in the U.S. this year they struck the center of the United States in the spring and the western states during the fall. This is very interesting.

Avian Superhighways: The Four Flyways of North America

The graph called the North American Bird Migration Flyway identifies four main flight paths of birds during the seasonal migration flights. These are the Atlantic Flyway, the Mississippi Flyway, the Central Flyway and the Pacific Flyway. In general, the outbreak in humans cases this year traveled the Mississippi Flyway during the spring and the Pacific Flyway during the fall of 2024.

Now one observation in this article was interesting. Some of North America's migratory birds even buck the trend and blaze very different trails. They plot bold journeys over the open ocean or migrate south by one route and north by another.

The article then goes on to describe two examples. In the fall, some Blackpoll Warblers make an epic journey of more than 10,000 miles from Alaska to the Amazon with barely any stops. This includes nearly 2,000 nonstop miles over the Atlantic Ocean — an impressive feat for a bird that weighs less than a House Mouse. In the spring, though, Blackpoll Warblers plot an inland course instead, largely following the Mississippi Flyway.

Not to be outdone, the American Golden-Plover follows an even more circular migration path. Each year, it flies up to 20,000 miles as it journeys between its breeding grounds in the Arctic tundra and “wintering” grounds of southern South America (during the Southern Hemisphere's summer). The open-ocean leg of this trip, which traverses the eastern Atlantic and Caribbean, is longer than the coast-to-coast span of the U.S.

Here is an update of H5N1 moving across Canada.

There are 10 premises infected with H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in British Columbia (B.C.) and one in Saskatchewan. The nation estimates 11,099,000 birds are affected, according to the latest data from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. All B.C. cases are in Chilliwack and Abbotsford.

Avian flu poses a serious risk to Canada’s poultry supply, and migratory birds that land in the Fraser Valley make B.C. farms particularly vulnerable. Around 145,000 birds have been affected by HPIA at the six premises in B.C. All have been humanely killed and disposed of, the CFIA said. Manure, feathers and other material that could spread the disease are disposed of as well, and all premises go through cleaning and disinfection overseen by the CFIA.

Source: Sask. farm among those infected with HPAI

The U.S. will begin testing raw milk supplies for H5N1 to get ahead of the threat.

H5N1 Testing and Oregon Update

USDA will begin broader bulk testing of vats or silos at milk processors in November for states such as California that now have the virus.

Since the outbreak began in dairy herds in March, there have been 404 herds hit by the virus in 14 states. California accounts for half of those infected herds -- 202 dairies -- with 158 confirmed cases in the past month alone.

California is the country's largest milk-producing state and accounts for roughly 20% of the country's milk and dairy products.

Vilsack said milk testing often can provide signs that the virus is in a dairy herd before any cows show symptoms. Sometimes cows are also asymptomatic but still carrying the virus.

"We know from some advanced research that when you test the milk it gives you an indication that the virus is there even before you see it in the cows," Vilsack said. "So, testing will give us an opportunity to get ahead, if you will."

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Boy that was quick. Testing milk supplies already showed that an outbreak was occurring in Utah.

The first round of mandatory milk testing in northern Utah identified bird flu infections in eight dairy herds, said the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food on Thursday. Utah is the 15th state to report the avian flu virus in dairy cattle since the disease was first identified in herds in Texas in March.

Utah mandated weekly testing of samples from milk storage tanks in Cache County on Oct. 23, following an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza on an egg farm with 1.85 million laying hens. Cache County is 85 miles north of Salt Lake City, on the Idaho border.

The Utah outbreaks raise the U.S. total to 411 herds in 15 states. California has the most, 202 herds. Colorado is second, with 64 herds, and Idaho is third, with 35 herds.

Bird Flu Found in Eight Dairy Herds in Utah, 15th State

Bird Flu in bird populations is erupting in Europe.

France confirms avian flu in vaccinated flocks

Outbreaks of HPAI linked to the H5N1 virus serotype have been reported over the past two weeks in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic (Czechia), Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia.

Following a five-month hiatus, the virus was detected again in Slovakia in mid-October. Affected was a flock of more than 40,000 breeding chickens in the southwestern region of Nitra.

Bulgaria has also confirmed its first HPAI outbreaks in poultry following a brief absence. Starting in late July, the first two outbreaks were in the central province of Plovdiv — involving firstly a farm, and then a premises described as “other” in the WOAH report. Last week, the national food safety agency confirmed a further outbreak. This involved a flock of more than 350,000 poultry in Yambol in the southeast of the country.

In Hungary, a total of 13 more farms have been affected by outbreaks across four different counties. Many of the flocks so far have comprised foie-gras or fattening ducks or geese. Flocks sizes are not included in the WOAH notifications.

Three latest outbreaks reported to WOAH in Poland involved farms in the central-western province of Greater Poland. Affected were one flock of close to 1.38 million laying hens, and two of breeding ducks (4,218 and 5,320 birds). Latest update from the nation's chief veterinary office includes a further outbreak affecting close to 60,000 laying hens in the same province. This brings the Polish total to eight outbreaks since August, and 33 for the year to date.

Meanwhile, the number of confirmed outbreaks in the Czech Republic has risen to eight so far this year. At the end of last month, the H5N1 HPAI virus was detected in a mixed flock of around 29,000 in total of fattening ducks and game birds in the southwestern region of Plzen, according to the report to WOAH.

More recently, the state veterinary service has reported an outbreak in a flock of just over 7,000 — comprising breeding geese, domestic and wild ducks — in South Moravia in the southwest of the country.

Over the past two weeks, WOAH has received notification of new HPAI outbreaks in captive birds in Austria, the Czech Republic, France, Hungary, Moldova, and Slovenia. This category includes non-commercial poultry flocks and premises such as zoos.

The Slovenian outbreak affecting a flock of 27 domestic poultry followed a five-month hiatus. For the other European states, the outbreaks represented a continuation of the seasonal outbreak wave. Three more flocks were affected in each of the Czech Republic and Moldova, two in Hungary, and one in each of Austria and France.

Infections with the H5N1 HPAI virus in this population have been reported to WOAH widely across the continent — from Spain and Portugal to Serbia and Slovakia, and from Germany to Italy. In each country, the number of individuals reported to be infected is low, and no mass mortalities have been recorded. Furthermore, veterinary agencies of Belgium, Iceland and Great Britain have reported further cases of wild birds infected with the H5N5 virus serotype.

On 31 Oct 2024, 11:29 AM, on this site I discussed an H5N1 outbreak that was occurring in two Pigs in Crook County, Oregon.

On Nov. 1, 2024, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Veterinary Services Laboratory (NVSL) confirmed Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) in a backyard flock of geese and chickens in Jackson County. This is the first confirmed case of HPAI in Jackson County. Samples from the flock were first taken to the Oregon Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory (OVDL) at Oregon State University (OSU) for testing. OSU confirmed the presence of HPAI on October 30, 2024, and NVSL confirmed the results two days later.

According to the USDA, HPAI detections are higher in the fall and spring because wild birds spreading the virus are migrating to their seasonal homes. Since May 2022, three commercial poultry flocks and 38 backyard flocks have been affected in Oregon. On October 30, 2024, NVSL confirmed HPAI in at least one pig on a small Crook County farm. The pig co-mingled with HPAI-affected chickens and ducks. All 70 birds and five pigs on the premises were humanely euthanized. NVSL continues to test samples taken from the pigs.

Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza Confirmed in Jackson County

Is this the first evidence of a cross species transfer of H5N1 from birds to pigs in the U.S.?

H5N1 is on the move. It looks like we are up to 41 human cases now.

California, Washington report more suspected H5 avian flu cases

Two states affected by avian flu outbreaks in dairy cattle and commercial poultry reported more probable H5 avian flu infections in farm workers over the last few days, four in California and three in Washington.

With the 4 new infections, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) has now reported 20 cases, of which 17 have been confirmed by testing at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The CDPH also notes one other probable case in a dairy worker who met the probable case definition and had a sample that tested positive at a local lab; however, the CDC's confirmation test was negative.

Also, the Washington State Department of Health on November 1 reported 3 more probable cases in people exposed to sick poultry, raising the state's total to 12, of which 9 have been confirmed by the CDC.

In its November 1 update on confirmed human cases so far this year, the CDC listed 41 cases in six states, with the jurisdiction pending for 1 case in patient exposed to poultry.

In other developments, federal officials reported more outbreaks in dairy cows and poultry, and in California, Los Angeles County announced that H5 has been detected in wastewater for the first time.

In animal health developments, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has confirmed 38 more H5N1 outbreaks in dairy cattle, 30 in California and 8 in Utah, which the state had earlier said are located in Cache County. The virus has now been confirmed in 442 herds across 15 states. When factoring in all livestock, including swine and alpacas, APHIS has confirmed 444 detections in 16 states.

Also, today APHIS confirmed more poultry outbreaks in three western states, including a commercial turkey farm in California's Sacramento County that houses 48,300 birds. The agency also confirmed two outbreaks in backyard flocks in Washington, one in Okanogan County and the other in Stevens County, as well as an event involving backyard birds in Oregon's Jackson County.

Elephant seal numbers drop after avian flu outbreak: First report of transmission between marine mammals

The sounds of barking elephant seals are again in the air along the breeding grounds of Península Valdés, Argentina—but it's quieter. Almost exactly a year after a massive outbreak of H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza killed more than 17,000 elephant seals, including about 97% of their pups, scientists estimate that only about a third of the elephant seals normally expected here returned.

The study's genomic analysis further found that, upon entering South America, the virus evolved into separate avian and marine mammal clades, which is unprecedented.

The study then indicates that it wasn't just the pups that died but also the adults elephant seals.

"It is likely that more than half of the reproductive population died due to the virus. It will take decades before the numbers are back to the 2022 population size."

most of the adult males and many of the most experienced and fertile females have not returned.

The number of human cases of H5N1 continues to rise. The number in the U.S. is now up to 46.

CDC Updates Recommendations to Protect Workers From Avian Flu

To date, there have been 46 human cases of H5N1 in the United States, of which 25 were due to exposure to infected dairy cows and 20 to exposure to infected poultry. There was one case in Missouri with no known animal or animal product exposure, according to Dr. Daskalakis.