Utah mink farm bird flu outbreak: Petri dish for next pandemic?

 

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Headline:  The Guardian, 11/4/2026

George Monbiot opines:

Could this be ground zero? Could it be the spot where the next pandemic begins? It’s certainly a candidate, not least because the chain of events that could trigger a plague far worse than Covid-19 looks like the opening sequence of a disaster movie. A really bad disaster movie, in which the levels of carelessness and turpitude defy belief. 

A report by the investigative news service ProPublica reveals that bird flu has been raging in a mink farm in Utah since August, and it appears next to nothing has been done by public officials. In 2023, I warned in the Guardian that mink farms could scarcely be better designed to generate lethal plagues. This is for three reasons: mink are fed on the offcuts of chickens, cows and other farm animals, in which new viral variants often develop; mink readily host both avian and human flu viruses, which can then exchange genetic material, turning a bird disease into a human one; and mink possess extremely high “zoonotic potential” – the ability to infect animals of other species, including human beings.

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October-November 2026

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Texas restricts movement of warm-blooded animals in 14 counties. (11/2)

Screwworm moves into Arizona.  (10/31)

July-August 2026

Trump World:  Open borders for immigrants?  NEIN!  Open borders for possibly screwworm-infected cattle?  JA!!  (8/31)

Brooke Rollins @USDA is once again falling down on the job.  (8/30)

Screwworm is all over the place in much of Mexico.  (8/21)

Number of screwworm cases in U.S. hits 44.  (8/3)

Brooke Rollins Chronicles:  Are you really going to believe a Trump cabinet secretary who the Union of Concerned Scientists described as "Inexperienced, anti-science, and extremist"? (7/25)

Screwworm tally in United States reaches 37.  (7/15)

The Brooke Rollins Amateur Hour @USDA doesn't bode well for corralling screwworm outbreak.  (7/13)

June 2026

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Eradication of screwworm becomes undone during Trump regime of sycophantic cabinet secretaries like Brooke Rollins @USDA.  (6/17)

Donald Trump fumbles the ball in the effort to halt the spread of screwworm.  (6/14)

Screwworm update from The Texas Tribune.  (6/13)

Screwworm spreads in Texas while Trump fiddles and Brooke Rollins poses.  (6/8)

Screwworm  has arrived in United States under the unwatchful eyes of Donald Trump and Brooke Rollins.  (6/8)

Screwworm spreads in Texas while Trump fiddles and Brooke Rollins poses.  (6/8)

Texas screwworm:  Disaster in the office of Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins.  (6/6)

January-April 2026

New World Screwworm hitchhikes its way to the U.S.-Mexico border.  (4/29)

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins too busy posing with chickens to deal with screwworm threat to Texas cattle industry.  (4/14)

Screwworm detected in Mexico less than 50 miles from United States border.  (1/21)

2025

New World screwworm:  Next stop, Laredo Texas.  (9/28)

New World screwworm double vision.  (8/8)

New World screwworm, not yet in United States, is already screwing us at the meat counter.  (7/31)

Are we ready for the New World screwworm?  (7/30)

In the news:  New World Screwworm.  (5/13)