Headline: North Delta Reporter, 12/11/2024
Why worry about H5N1?
In B.C., the perfect storm is brewing. The wild bird migratory season is happening along the Pacific flyway. With them — like the geese that may be behind the teen's infection — comes H5N1. In the Fraser Valley, so far, 71 operations have had poultry flocks infected with H5N1 since October, and scientists have found an “unprecedented amount of environmental contamination” of area wetlands with avian flu — where it may survive for months.
Worse, the mutations found in the virus that infected the teenager show it’s adapting to humans and is more likely to affect the lungs — possibly explaining why the teen became so sick.
This all is happening in the midst of respiratory viral season — on top of COVID-19 that just won’t go away, no matter how determined we are to ignore it. Sluggish and opaque responses to H5N1 outbreaks in the U.S. are provoking international concern. The highly respected American virologist David O’Connor says, “It seems that the United States is addicted to gambling with H5N1. But if you gamble long enough, the virus may hit a jackpot.”
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What worries pandemic experts most about bird flu. (12/13/2024)
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