This year in the United States, 14 people have tested positive for avian influenza, or bird flu. Nine of those became infected after coming into contact with poultry, and four got the virus from exposure to dairy cows. The source of the remaining, most recent case remains a mystery. The Centers for Disease Control and … Read more
A strain of seasonal influenza has completely vanished globally since March 2020, and due to its disappearance, health officials in Canada are changing up the annual flu vaccine. The B/Yamagata influenza strain, once a dominant force among influenza B viruses, may have vanished entirely due to the stringent measures imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic, according … Read more
Ongoing outbreaks of avian influenza have decimated poultry flocks and wild birds across the United States and worldwide. The virus, known as H5N1, is also increasingly adapting to mammals and has been found in cats, goats, and raccoons. In the US, it has spread to at least 170 dairy herds across 13 states. And in … Read more
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Recent outbreaks of bird flu—in US dairy herds, poultry farms in Australia, and elsewhere, and isolated cases in humans—have raised the issue of food safety. So can the virus transfer from infected farm animals to contaminate milk, meat, or eggs? How likely is … Read more
In late March, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced it had detected cases of bird flu in dairy cattle. Initially discovered in dairy farms in Texas, Kansas, and New Mexico, there are now 36 confirmed outbreaks in dairy herds in nine states. Although the H5N1 virus circulates widely in wild birds, it is now … Read more
As Canadians bid farewell to the aches and chills of the season of respiratory viruses, like influenza, a new question looms: what other microbial menaces will appear as days grow warmer? As the transition from winter to spring unfolds and people begin to gather outdoors, it’s crucial to remain vigilant against a range of viruses … Read more
As a recent example of what may ensue, Pitesky points to the repeated African swine fever outbreaks across various Asian countries in the past decade, which decimated the pig farming industry to the extent that pork was briefly usurped by poultry as the most widely consumed animal protein on the planet. Pitesky argues, however, that … Read more
As the holiday season gets underway, the joy of gatherings with family and friends intertwines with the challenges of cold and flu season and rising COVID-19 cases in some provinces, prompting warnings from health experts for Canadians to remain vigilant. Across Canada, the percentage of weekly positive COVID-19 tests was 18.2 per cent as of … Read more
