With the exception of two cases, all of them had direct contact with cattle or poultry, the primary animals affected by H5N1.

More about the news

That’s, however, reassuring to scientists because that means people are getting sick through contact with infected animals and not by touching other people.

According to James Paulson, the study co-author and a professor in the department of molecular medicine at Scripps Research in California, the H5N1 strain, which is spreading among the US cattle, is certainly one mutation away from more easily binding to human cells, “a prerequisite for transmission among humans,” time.com reported.

Right now, in its current form, the H5N1 virus is a better-pronounced virus that targets some species of animals more than human beings.

It has affected more than 700 of the country’s dairy herds, with millions of birds and cows but comparatively few people. The vast majority of those human cases have been reported among farmworkers.

Lesser circulation among humans

That means, while the bird flu can’t do all that well at infecting people, it does so occasionally when people are exposed to high enough concentrations of the virus, such as through contact with infected animals, says Troy Sutton, an assistant professor of veterinary and biomedical sciences at Penn State University and who did not take part in the new research.

Because the virus can’t readily grow in the human nose and throat, people who get sick do not appear capable of easily spreading the disease through coughs and sneezes, as can be done with the normal flu sickness, says Sutton.

As Paulson added, in case the bird flu mutates enough to efficiently infect and grow in between people, “that’s how a pandemic starts,” time.com reported.

His team focused on the first step in that process: how the virus would need to evolve perfectly for it to attach itself to human cells conveniently.

In the lab, they worked with a chemical version of a gene from the viral strain that is circulating in cattle today.

The technology was used to make certain targeted mutations to investigate the effect of the shifts on the protein’s capability to bind to human cells.

As time.com reported, that’s quite ‘striking,’ as Sutton adds, and quite enough reason to stop more human cases to the extent possible.

The post Bird Flu on the Brink: ‘Just One Mutation Away’ from Pandemic! appeared first on Fitness Blue Prints.

More about the news

A seventh probable California case has been identified and is awaiting confirmation from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

However, all the reported cases are described as mild, and each case appears to have resulted from contact with infected livestock or poultry.

In California, for instance, the infections were among workers in the dairy industry. In Oregon, the patient was a poultry worker.

Rising cases in states

California’s state epidemiologist Erica Pan said that when five cases were announced on Friday, this may have sounded like it exploded or accelerated, medicalxpress.com reported.

The CDC had confirmed three cases on Wednesday after California’s reporting deadline. The other two were declared on Thursday – a day California doesn’t release data on the cases.

There was also a holiday on Monday, which contributed to delaying the reporting.

According to him, “I would still call these sporadic animal or human infections, and there’s still no evidence of any human to human.”

“These are all workers who are at risk of exposure based on their their work exposures,” he added.

In the Oregon case, the disease was contracted from a reported outbreak of infected commercial poultry operations in Clackamas County.

The agency noted that the person has been treated with an antiviral medication called Oseltamivir. The health agency also advised the use of the antiviral medication to other members of the family or people who stayed with the patient, medicalxpress.com reported.

Since March this year, the United States Centre for Disease Control and Prevention has estimated that fifty-two people have contracted H5N1. Thirty samples were obtained from dairy cattle and 21 from poultry.

For one more case in Missouri, the source of infection is still unknown.

The post ‘Deadly’ H5N1 Flu Strikes: Six New Human Infections Confirmed Spread! appeared first on Fitness Blue Prints.

Elsewhere, federal authorities identified further outbreaks in dairy cows and poultry, while Los Angeles County, California, has confirmed positive samples of H5 in wastewater for the first time.

More infection cases identified

The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) added four new cases, bringing the total to 20; seventeen of those cases have been confirmed by the CDC, cidrap.umn.edu reported.

The CDPH also identified one other likely case in a dairy employee with a specimen that was positive in another local laboratory that fulfilled probable case criteria but had a negative confirmation CDC test.

The Washington State Department of Health on November 1 reported three other probable human cases in people who have been exposed to sick poultry, bringing the state total to 12, of which nine have been confirmed by the CDC.

The patients traveled while ill to Oregon, which recently identified an avian case of the virus, at a backyard farm that also recently reported a pig positive, the first known case in US swine.

What more have the officials reported?

The Oregon Health Authority posted an October 31 statement saying the patients were being overseen by health officials in the state when they were present in Oregon.

All had contact with sick poultry in Washington. The agency stated that the three individuals had gone back to Washington for observation for the next ten days after the presumably last contact with infected birds.

The CDC’s total number of confirmed human cases for this year up to November 1 includes 41 cases in 6 states with jurisdiction pending for one case related to a patient exposed to poultry, cidrap.umn.edu reported.

More cases in US poultry and dairy farms

As per the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), thirty-eight H5N1 outbreaks have been reported in dairy cattle, out of which thirty are in California and eight in Utah.

Moreover, the virus has now been confirmed in 442 herds in fifteen states.

The post Rising Human Cases of H5N1 Could Spark Bigger Health Crisis! appeared first on Fitness Blue Prints.

The H5N1 variation of avian influenza was recently detected in an individual working on a bovine husbandry facility in Texas. As per assessments from Johns Hopkins University, the contagion has now disseminated across 16 cow herds spanning six distinct states, encompassing the proximal state of Kansas to Missouri. 

Chris Chinn, the Director of the Missouri Department of Agriculture, affirmed that barring isolated cases, the condition of the state’s bovine population remains generally robust.

“In the realm of Missouri, we have encountered a few instances [of avian influenza in avian species], yet our situation has been comparatively fortuitous in contrast to numerous other jurisdictions grappling with more severe ramifications,” she mentioned, adding, “While a handful of cases emerged in the onset of this year’s vernal season, our poultry sector presently demonstrates commendable resilience. No active instances are extant as of present.”

Chinn highlighted that the agricultural practitioners in Missouri are additionally fortified by stringent biosecurity protocols, encompassing the imposition of a 30-day quarantine for newly introduced livestock alongside mandatory veterinary endorsement. 

Furthermore, she corroborated the safety of all pasteurized goods circulating within the state. However, on a national scale, authorities foresee a surge in occurrences of avian influenza in cows and humans, yet the magnitude of the impending outbreak remains uncertain. No instances of human-to-human transmission have been reported.

The post Avian Influenza Transmission Sparks High Concern, Officials Warn of Potential Outbreak appeared first on Fitness Blue Prints.

Simultaneously, a distinct study conducted by the US Department of Agriculture unveils genetic alterations within the H5N1 strain, wreaking havoc across dairy farms. This genetic evolution may render the virus more adept at interspecies transmission, potentially affecting not only bovines but also humans while possibly conferring resistance to antiviral treatments, according to reports published by Daily Mail. 

Despite these concerning developments, both the CDC and the World Health Organization (WHO) maintain that the risk to the general populace of the United States remains minimal; however, WHO underscored the moderate risk of infection for individuals with direct exposure to infected birds, animals, or contaminated environments.

In a proactive response, the CDC recently convened a webinar attended by infectious disease specialists and CDC officials following the alarming revelation of new H5N1 mutations by USDA researchers. The USDA’s findings suggest that certain mutations detected within the virus population, albeit at low frequencies, could potentially alter its transmission dynamics, particularly following adaptation within dairy cattle.

Published as a pre-print on BioRxiv, the USDA study scrutinizes nasal and milk samples from numerous infected cows, unveiling a plethora of mutations, some of which are linked to functional changes within the virus. These genetic adaptations may enhance the virus’s pathogenicity, mammalian adaptability, and interspecies transmission capabilities.

Moreover, retrospective analysis indicates that the cattle outbreak commenced in late 2023, preceding official reports by approximately four months. The virus is believed to have initially jumped from avian hosts to bovines in the Texas Panhandle before disseminating across various herds in multiple states, including Kansas, Michigan, and New Mexico, as reported by news daily Daily Mail. 

The widespread dissemination of avian influenza among cattle poses an imminent threat, with at least 36 infected herds documented across nine states, although the true extent of the outbreak likely surpasses current estimates. Furthermore, concerns linger regarding potential transmission to farm personnel, with reports indicating a reluctance among sick individuals to undergo testing, thereby exacerbating the risk of further spread within both agricultural and wild animal populations.

The post CDC Warns of Avian Flu Pandemic Potential: H5N1 Mutations Surge, Heightening Infectiousness and Drug Resistance appeared first on Fitness Blue Prints.