Are we at the edge of another pandemic? H5N1

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Another species under fire from H5N1. This time Caspian terns.



A 2023 avian flu outbreak decimated a Caspian tern colony on Rat Island and spread to harbor seals, posing a new threat to local wildlife.

A 2023 epidemiological study revealed that 56% of a large Caspian tern breeding colony at Rat Island, Washington, succumbed to an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza. Following this event, no birds have successfully bred on the island, heightening concerns about the outbreak’s potential impact on an already declining Pacific coast population.

Source: Deadly H5N1 Outbreak Triggers Unprecedented Caspian Tern Die-Off in Washington and Spreads To Harbor Seals

H5N1 Bird Flu in humans is on the move. This time in Canada.

The first human case of the H5 Avian Flu has been caught in British Columbia, Canada. The infected person, a teenager from the Fraser Health region, is now receiving treatment at the B.C. Children’s Hospital, per health officials.

Source: First Case of Human Bird Flu Caught in British Columbia, Canada: Investigations Underway

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Canada is expanding testing of H5N1 in wastewater.

There is a new urgency to the work after a British Columbia teenager was hospitalized with what is presumed to be H5N1 bird flu. The case, only the second ever in Canada, has put health officials on heightened alert.

In Ontario, wastewater testing for the H5N1 bird flu virus is set to begin in the coming weeks in communities considered at high risk, said Rob Delatolla, whose University of Ottawa lab will lead the wastewater surveillance as part of a research program based at the University of Guelph. That will likely mean testing wastewater in communities in agricultural regions of the province.

"The emergence of a H5N1 influenza virus in wild birds, dairy cattle, pigs and also humans in the U.S. has raised real concerns about our ability to identify, monitor and prevent human outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza in humans in Canada,” Delatolla said.

Source: Wastewater testing for avian influenza to begin in some Ontario communities

France Raises Bird Flu Risk Level To ‘High’, Tightens Security At Poultry Farms

France has raised its bird flu risk to “high,” enforcing stricter poultry farm measures as cases rise across Europe

France has raised its bird flu risk level from “moderate” to “high,” implementing stricter security measures to protect poultry farms, according to a decree issued on Friday. This elevated alert level comes as highly pathogenic avian influenza, commonly known as bird flu, continues to spread at a rapid pace among poultry across the European Union, causing fears of a recurrence of past outbreaks that led to the deaths of tens of millions of birds and raised concerns about potential human-to-human transmission.

The French agriculture ministry said the heightened risk status was driven by confirmed bird flu cases in migratory wild birds in neighboring countries. By increasing the risk level, authorities aim to boost surveillance and enforce stronger prevention measures across poultry facilities.

The United Kingdom has reported bird flu cases in Yorkshire shortly after raising its own risk level to “high.” The rapid spread of the virus across Europe has prompted nations to act swiftly to prevent major losses within the poultry industry and to minimise potential health risks.

Russia Registers First Case of Bird Flu in Humans

Russia has detected its first case of transmission of bird flu virus from animals to humans, according to health authorities. Scientists from the state-run Vector Institute have isolated genetic material.

Scientists from the state-run Vector Institute have isolated genetic material of the H5N8 virus from seven workers at a poultry farm in southern Russia, according to Anna Popova, head of Russia’s healthare regulator Rospotrebnadzor.

H5N8 virus cases have been reported recently elsewhere in Europe, including Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Hungary.

Are we at the cusp of a massive pandemic? H1N1, H5N1 and H5N8 may be like twin sisters.

H1N1 otherwise known as the Spanish Flu struck during the First World War and killed between 50 to 100 million people between 1918 and 1919 across the globe. The world population has grown 5 times since then. Today it would have the potential of killing 250 to 500 million people in our current population.

H5N1 otherwise know as Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza or deadly Bird Flu is moving across the bird and animal populations causing massive death and debilitating sickness. At last count, 46 human cases have occurred in the U.S. and human cases are beginning to show up in Canada.

H5N8 has appeared in Russia. Seven human cases have occurred in southern Russia in the last few days. But they are also showing up in Europe in Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Hungary.

I suspect we are at the cusp of a massive pandemic and it is inching closer and closer.

Avian Flu confirmed on poultry farms in 13 European countries

Over the past two weeks, the first cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) of the fall season have been reported in Albania, Great Britain, Romania, and new regions of Germany and Ukraine.

While H5N1 continues to be prevalent HPAI virus serotype detected in the region’s wild and domestic birds this year, the presence of the H5N5 variant has been confirmed for the first time at a poultry farm.

At the start of November, birds at a farm in northern England tested positive for H5N5 after around 200 of the 23,227 free-range laying hens at the premises died. The farm is located In Hornsea in the East Riding of Yorkshire.

In recent days, the veterinary agencies of four European states/regions have notified WOAH about their first cases of HPAI in poultry linked to the H5N1 virus serotype.

For Albania, a backyard outbreak in a flock of 20 poultry at the end of October represented the first ever in the area. It occurred near to the country’s capital, Tirana.

First HPAI cases since May of this year have been recorded in Romania. According to the WOAH notification, affected was a backyard flock in the southeastern county of Tulcea.

Following a seven-month hiatus, the H5N1 HPAI virus has been detected again at two locations in the southeast German state of Bavaria. At the end of October, one small poultry flock in each of two different districts tested positive for the virus.

Following a brief absence, poultry have tested positive for the same HPAI virus variant in Mykolaiv, a province in southern Ukraine. The outbreak affected a village flock of around 160 birds, according to the WOAH report.

Turkey reports first H5N1 Avian Influenza outbreak in over a year

In a concerning development, Turkey has reported its first outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (H5N1) in over a year. The outbreak was detected in a commercial poultry farm in the Meram district of Konya province.

I came across an interesting article today and thought I would share it.

USDA's Dereliction in Containing Bird Flu Could Cause Calamitous Pandemic (Part 1)

An inherent conflict of interest – USDA both regulating and promoting livestock industries – prevents appropriate responses to outbreaks of infectious disease.

When dairy cows in Texas started falling ill last Spring, alarm bells started to ring. Veterinarians had found feverish cows struggling to breathe and yielding barely any milk alongside rotting dead barn pigeons and dead cats that had eaten the pigeons or drunk contaminated milk. This nightmarish scene led veterinarians to suspect an unprecedented outbreak of H5N1 (bird flu) in cattle.

One veterinarian sent an urgent email in mid-March to the National Veterinary Services Laboratories (NVSL) in Ames, Iowa. Days went by with no response. Finally, on March 25, USDA’s lab confirmed that the H5N1 strain of avian influenza virus had indeed infected dairy cows in Texas and Kansas.

This revelation sent shockwaves through the scientific and agricultural communities. While H5N1 bird flu had affected various species globally — ranging from skunks and bears to sea lions — this marked the first known occurrence in cattle.

The stakes are huge: Not only could an outbreak threaten the dairy and beef industries, but unchecked it could spread the virus among cows with the potential for transmission to pigs –– a species in which different viruses are able to mix and form new variants during simultaneous infection, creating an unpredictable and potentially catastrophic situation.

The H5N1, a deadly strain of flu virus with the potential to mutate and spark a pandemic among humans, has been on epidemiologists’ radar for nearly two decades. Virologists have long warned that if bird and human flu viruses recombine during simultaneous infection in animals like pigs or cattle, it could produce the worst-case scenario: a new virus capable of human-to-human transmission, and which could spread readily because humans would have little or no immunity to it.

The author Henry I. Miller, MS, MD is a good out-of-the-box thinker. I do not always agree with his analysis but he is definitely close sometimes.

As I wrote yesterday, "H1N1 otherwise known as the Spanish Flu struck during the First World War and killed between 50 to 100 million people between 1918 and 1919 across the globe. The world population has grown 5 times since then. Today it would have the potential of killing 250 to 500 million people in our current population." H5N1 and H1N1 are twins.

H5N1 is on the move. This time Hawaii.

H5 AVIAN FLU DETECTED AT WASTEWATER SAMPLING SITE ON OʻAHU, DOH CLOSELY MONITORING SITUATION 

To date, Hawaiʻi has been the only state without H5N1 avian influenza detected in birds or animals.

The Hawaiʻi Department of Health (DOH) is investigating possible sources of H5 avian influenza, which has been detected for the first time at a wastewater sampling site on Oʻahu. The specimen was collected on November 7, 2024, and DOH received the result today.

Wastewater sampling is routinely performed across Hawaiʻi as part of ongoing surveillance for infectious diseases including avian influenza. H5N1, also called Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI), is one type of H5 avian influenza. Whether this detection is HPAI is unable to be determined from wastewater testing. The wastewater testing provides a signal for further investigation to determine whether this detection is H5N1-related, and an opportunity to reinforce prevention measures, particularly among persons at increased risk of exposure.

Avian flu returns to South Korea, Turkey.

Over the past two weeks, first outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in poultry have been confirmed in countries in the east and west of Asia. Further outbreaks in commercial birds have been reported in Japan and Taiwan.

At the end of October, the first HPAI outbreak of the 2024-2025 season was confirmed in a South Korean poultry flock.

Following a four-month hiatus, presence of the H5N1 HPAI virus was detected at a farm with 900 birds in the northeastern province of Gangwon, according to the official notification to the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH). Affected was a mixed flock of ducks and chickens, according to the Yonhap news agency. At the end of last week, a second outbreak was reported by the same source. This involved a duck flock in Eumseong county, around 90km south of the capital city, Seoul. The county is in central South Korea, in the province of North Chungcheong.

For the first time in South Korea, presence of the H5N3 virus serotype has been detected in the nation’s wild bird population, according to a recent WOAH report. Affected was a wild duck found in the southwestern province of North Jeolla.

On 11 Nov 2024, 2:46 pm on this thread I reported about the first case of H5N1 in Canada. It was a boy. He is now in critical condition.

B.C. teen diagnosed with bird flu in critical condition, with source of virus likely to remain unknown

The British Columbia teen who caught the first known case of bird flu in a person in Canada is in critical condition, and public health officials say they may never know where the adolescent picked up the virus.

The Fraser Valley teen does not live, work or have any connection to poultry farms, where a highly pathogenic version of avian flu has decimated flocks at 24 sites in B.C. since early October.

This article discusses a method for turning two different Bird Flu infection that is deadly in various species but not humans into a new combined strain that is extremely deadly to humans. H5N1 is on the move, stay alert, stay alive.

H5N1 Bird Flu is on the move in California. This is being tracked by wastewater surveillance.

New Bird Flu Spread Patterns Are Revealed in Wastewater

Wastewater in several Californian cities, including San Francisco and Los Angeles, recently tested positive for bird flu. But understanding disease risk and exposure to humans isn’t so straightforward.

In the past couple of weeks, wastewater samples in several locations mostly scattered around California—including the cities of Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento and San Jose—tested positive for genetic material from the bird flu virus, H5N1. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Wastewater Surveillance System reported detections at 14 sites in California during a collection period that ended on November 2.

The link provides a picture of the California areas affected.

The CDC guidelines for workers at high risk of contracting H5N1 are being increased.

Workers who are exposed to infection during poultry culling or during the milking of infected cows should be tested regardless of whether they have symptoms, the guidelines advise. The CDC also now recommends offering the antiviral Tamiflu even to asymptomatic workers who have had a high-risk exposure without adequate protective gear. Finally, the agency has updated its recommendations for personal protective equipment according to risk level, with suggestions for those handling infected animals being most stringent.

Federal and local authorities call for expanded bird flu testing in wake of farm worker infections

More on the outbreak of Bird Flu in Hawaii.

State epidemiologist Dr. Sarah Kemble discusses avian influenza virus in a wastewater sample from Oahu

The Hawaii Department of Agriculture received a report Tuesday of at least 10 dead birds on a property that is within the area served by the Wahiawa Wastewater Treatment Plant, where a detection of avian influenza was reported earlier this week, officials said. The dead birds tested included ducks, goose and a zebra dove, and test results from necropsies confirmed bird flu.

Bird Flu is striking Norway. H5N5 another twin sister.

The Veterinary Institute has detected highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in a hobby bird farm in Frøya municipality in Trøndelag. The birds were sampled after several hens died suddenly. Due to suspicion of illness, the Norwegian Food Safety Authority was notified and then took samples which were sent to the Veterinary Institute for analysis. At the time of sampling, 16 hens and two ducks were dead. The virus that has been detected in the samples from the birds is a H5N5 HPAI. This is the first time this subtype of the virus has been detected in domesticated birds in Norway. Several discoveries of this type of virus have been made in wild birds in Norway during October and November this year.

The Veterinary Institute has also detected bird flu virus of the same subtype in seagulls in Nord-Troms following the discovery of a large number of dead seagulls in a small area.

Since 2020, there have been outbreaks of HPAI in five commercial poultry flocks, three hobby poultry farms and two bird parks in Norway.

Source: Norway: Bird flu detected in hobby bird farms in Trøndelag

On 27 June 2024, 9:49 A.M., I summarized the approach to survive a very deadly disease called H5N1 Avian Flu, Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza. I have covered a lot of information over the past several weeks on the next potential pandemic called H5N1. I have come to realize this pandemic will primarily be transmitted by insects, primarily Mosquitoes. Mosquitoes infect humans with a blood to blood transfer between infected to uninfected birds/animals/humans.

This virus has been evolving over the past few years. It began with birds and spread to animals and humans. The disease is passing across a maze of viruses in recent years including H5N3, H5N5, H5N8, H7N3, H7N8, and H7N9. But in my opinion the primary threat is H1N1.

H1N1 decimated the human population during the First World War. It went by many names including the Spanish Flu which killed between 50 and 100 million people during the period from 1918-1919. This plague went by many names. The Americans fell ill with "three-day fever" or "purple death." The French caught "purulent bronchitis." The Italians suffered "sand fly fever." German hospitals filled with victims of Blitzkatarrh or "Flanders fever. Sand fly fever is an arthropod-borne viral disease, also known as “Phlebotomus fever”, “mosquito fever”.

From 1918 to 1919, the Spanish flu infected an estimated 500 million people globally. This amounted to about 33% of the world's population at the time. In addition, the Spanish flu killed about 50 million people. Since the world population has grown around 5 times in the last 100 years. The threat might impact 2.5 billion people should it materialize today.



In my humble opinion, these diseases are transmitted by insects. An insect bites an infected bird/animal/human and then transmitted the blood directly to another bird/ animal/human. The following is a good approach to limiting the spread in humans.

1. You can protect yourself from mosquito bites in two ways. If you spend a lot of time outdoors you can create protective clothing (boots, clothing and camping gear) that repel mosquitoes by treating them with Permethrin.

2. You can also protect yourself from mosquito bites by applying mosquito repellent on you skin. This will provide short protection (several hours) to drive away mosquitoes. There are a variety of products available. They include DEET, Picaridin, IR3535, Oil of lemon, Para-menthane-diol eucalyptus, and 2-Undecanone.

3. Another product that can help prevent mosquito bites is Metofluthrin. Metofluthrin is a pyrethroid used as an insect repellent. The vapors of metofluthrin are highly effective and capable of repelling up to 97% of mosquitoes in field tests. Metofluthrin is used in a variety of consumer products, called emanators, for indoor and outdoor use. These products produce a vapor that protects an individual or area. Effectiveness is reduced by air movement. Metofluthrin is neurotoxic, and is not meant to be applied directly to human skin.

4. Accidents can happen. What to do immediately after being bitten by a mosquito? Treat the bite with Tecnu Topical Analgesic Anti-Itch Spray (Diphenhydramine HCl 2% ). There is another product that can diminish the effects of being bitten by an infected insect. It is called ChiggereX. This product contains 10% Benzocaine.

5. If you become infected with H5N1 treat the condition immediately using one of four FDA-approved antivirals for influenza: (1) Oseltamivir phosphate (Tamiflu), (2) Zanamivir (Relenza), (3) Peramivir (Rapivab), (4) Baloxavir (Xofluza). These are prescription drugs and will require a doctors prescription. Time is of the essence here. This condition will begin to destroy the human body and make it impossible to treat within a few days. Time is of the essence.

6. Some people are very vulnerable to mosquito bites. These are people with open wounds. Just covering the wounded area with bandages will not protect you. Mosquitoes can smell your blood and you become a prime target. I suffered a small bleed and was attacked by around 50 mosquitoes in less then two hours outdoors. (Luckily I had protected myself with DEET before I went outside and as a result, NOT ONE MOSQUITO WAS ABLE TO BITE ME.) This may also be a problem for women who are going through their menstrual period.

7. Go on the offensive. Wage a war on mosquitoes. In general, mosquitoes live in a hot humid environment. They most commonly infest Ponds, Marshes, Swamps, and Other wetland habitats. So minimize their breeding grounds. Wage war on mosquitoes.

8. Use our friends. What, you didn't realize we have allies in our war on Mosquitoes? We have many friends. Some are birds like woodpeckers, some are other insects like dragonflies, some are fish like gambusia affinis.

9. Wastewater tracking of H5N1 can identify the specific regions in the U.S. where the outbreak is underway. One of these regions is San Francisco, California. This area could be Ground Zero of the outbreak. But we cannot monitor the threat because the funding for Wastewater tracking has been halted. But time has been wasted and H5N1 is on the move and Central Valley in California is in the epicenter.

In the historic past, migrating birds were the long distance transport agents of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza H5N1. Seasonally they would move the infectious disease between the northern and southern hemispheres as the seasons changed from summer to winter. But now as humans have developed means of rapid transport, such as jet aircraft, the speed and distance this virus can spread is rapidly accelerated.