Latest news with #USCentresforDiseaseControl
The Irish Sun
11-06-2025
- Health
- The Irish Sun
Bird flu outbreak spreads to farm in new UK region as chickens set to be culled & study finds chilling virus feature
BIRD flu has been detected in an English farm, it's been announced. A case of the H5N1 bird flu was found in poultry in West Yorkshire. 3 A protection zone has been set up around the site Credit: Getty 3 The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said: "All poultry on the premises will be humanely culled." A 3km protection zone and 10km surveillance zone has been declared around the site near Ravensthorpe, Kirklees. It comes after a new animal study from the US Centres for Disease Control found that bird flu is capable of spreading through the air. In January, The government said all poultry on the infected site, in East Yorkshire, was humanely culled after a strain of the H5N1 bird flu virus was detected. It was the 16th outbreak of the HPAI H5N1 strain in kept birds in 2024, according to the Nation Farmers Union (NFU) In December, the Bird flu, or avian influenza, has killed millions of birds worldwide. Most read in Health The highly contagious bug is now spreading to mammals, raising fears it could trigger another pandemic through potential human-to-human transmission. In December, an animal sanctuary in Shelton, Washington, announced that twenty exotic cats, including a Bengal tiger, four cougars, a lynx and four bobcats, have died after contracting bird flu. What you need to know about Avian Influenza or Bird Flu So far, there is no evidence that H5N1 can spread between humans. But this increase in transmission gives the virus lots of opportunities to mutate - a process where a pathogen changes and can become more dangerous. Experts Scientists at Scripps Research in San Diego tested various genetic mutations on virus material from infected cattle. Bird flu: Could it be the next human pandemic? By Isabel Shaw, Health Reporter The H5N1 bird flu is running rampant in wildlife around the world and is now spreading in cows. In recent months, it infected people in Canada and the US leaving them severely unwell. This increase in transmission has given the virus lots of opportunities to mutate - a process where a pathogen changes and can become more dangerous. Scientists fear it's only a matter of time before one of these mutations makes it better at spreading among mammals - and Experts recently discovered that H5N1 is already just one mutation away from developing the ability to transmit person-to-person communication. So far, there is no evidence that H5N1 can spread between humans. But in the hundreds of cases where humans have been infected through contact with animals over the past 20 years, the mortality rate is high. From 2003 to 2024, 889 cases and 463 deaths caused by H5N1 have been reported worldwide from 23 countries, according to the World Health Organisation. This puts the case fatality rate at 52 per cent. Leading scientists have already warned an The prospect of a flu pandemic is alarming. Although scientists have pointed out that vaccines against many strains, They found that the Q226L mutation enhanced the virus's ability to attach to human-like cell receptors, giving bird flu the potential to behave like other human flu viruses. A recent case of bird flu suggests the virus might have already mutated to better spread among humans. The case, spotted this month in a hospitalised Louisiana man, is the first "severe" bird flu case in the US, amid its rapid spread through cows this year. Tests show the case involved a mutated version of H5N1 that helps it bind to human upper respiratory cells. This could make it easier to spread between people through coughing or sneezing, raising concerns the virus is adapting to infect humans more effectively. Bird flu viruses do not typically bind to a cell receptor in human upper airways, which helps explain why H5N1 rarely infects people or spreads between them. Bird flu is spread by close contact with an affected bird. This includes touching or petting an infected bird, touching droppings or bedding, or killing or preparing infected poultry for cooking. Read more on the Irish Sun However, bird flu cannot be caught through eating fully cooked poultry or eggs, even in areas with an outbreak of bird flu. The World Health Organisation (WHO) says the human risk remains low, but urges countries to share information quickly for monitoring and preparedness as the virus spreads. 3 So far, there is no evidence that H5N1 can spread between humans Credit: Getty
Yahoo
10-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
H5N1 bird flu ‘capable of airborne transmission'
H5N1 bird flu is capable of spreading through the air, a new animal study from the US Centres for Disease Control (CDC) has found. H5N1 was believed to spread primarily through direct contact with infected animals or their bodily fluids, but the new findings suggest it can also be transmitted through respiratory droplets and aerosol, raising concerns about its ability to cause a future pandemic. The study, published in Emerging Infectious Diseases, was based on a sample of H5N1 extracted from a dairy worker in Michigan who contracted the virus last year. The CDC scientists then used this sample to infect a group of ferrets, which are considered a 'gold standard' in flu research due to the similarity between their respiratory system and that of human. The infected animals were placed in close proximity to six other healthy ferrets and observed for three weeks. Within 21 days, three of the previously uninfected ferrets had contracted H5N1 – without any direct physical contact – indicating that the virus can travel through the air through a 'respiratory droplet transmission model'. The researchers also collected aerosol samples from the air surrounding the ferrets, and found infectious virus and viral RNA to be present, indicating that H5N1 can, like Covid-19, be transmitted through both respiratory droplets and aerosols – smaller particles that can travel longer distances and remain suspended in the air for extended periods. Respiratory droplets, on the other hand, are larger and do not travel as far in the air, requiring closer contact with an infected person for transmission. Since 2024, at least 70 people in the US have been infected with H5N1, the majority of them workers on poultry or dairy farms where the virus was present. Bird flu has spread to more than 1,000 dairy farms across the country over the past year and is now endemic among US cattle. 'This study is important as it provides yet more evidence that the H5N1 influenza virus that is circulating in dairy cattle in the USA is, in principle, capable of respiratory transmission,' Prof Ed Hutchinson, Professor of Molecular and Cellular Virology, MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research told The Telegraph. '[The study] does this using experimental animals that experience and transmit influenza in similar ways to humans, so it warns us of what the virus could do in humans under the right circumstances,' Prof Hutchinson added. The study's authors warned that their findings underline the 'ongoing threat to public health' H5N1 poses, emphasising the need for 'continual surveillance and risk assessment… to prepare for the next influenza pandemic'. Most human cases reported in the US so far have resulted from direct physical contact with sick animals or their fluids, including cow's milk. But experts have warned that, as H5N1 continues to infect animal populations and 'jump' to humans, it is only a matter of time before the virus undergoes the mutations necessary to spread effectively from person to person. 'Because avian H5N1 viruses cross the species barrier and adapt to dairy cattle, each associated human infection presents further opportunity for mammal adaptation,' the study's authors said. Protect yourself and your family by learning more about Global Health Security Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
The Independent
03-04-2025
- Health
- The Independent
Two-year-old girl dies from bird flu after eating raw chicken
A two-year-old girl in southern India died from bird flu after eating raw chicken, the first fatality linked to the H5N1 strain since 2021. The toddler, from Palnadu district in Andhra Pradesh state, died on 15 March after developing fever, breathing difficulties and diarrhoea. Authorities said the child contracted the virus after consuming raw chicken. It was not clear if she had been deliberately fed the meat or accidentally eaten it. She was initially admitted to a local health centre but taken to a city hospital on 4 March after her condition deteriorated. A sample test for avian influenza of H5N1 strain at the hospital returned positive, and the patient eventually died despite receiving appropriate medical treatment, the hospital said in a statement. Damodar Naidu, director of animal husbandry in Andhra Pradesh, said the child was admitted to hospital two-three days after consuming the raw chicken, according to Down To Earth. Following the death, he said authorities conducted physical surveillance of all poultry farms in the region, but found no signs of bird flu among poultry. 'There were isolated outbreaks in February but effective control measures were implemented promptly,' Mr Naidu said. 'No traces of the virus were found in the surveyed areas.' However, he urged the public to consume only properly cooked chicken and eggs. 'Poultry should be cooked to at least 70C. Eggs should be boiled and not eaten raw,' he said. No one in the girl's family tested positive for the flu. The federal health ministry deployed an outbreak response team to Andhra Pradesh to assist in the case. Bird flu is caused by a virus that infects birds and sometimes foxes, otters and seals. It rarely infects humans, but a major strain known as H5N1 has caused global health concern. Only five cases of H5N1 and H9N2 strains have been detected in India over the past five years, the Andhra government reported in a statement. An 11-year-old in the northern Haryana state died in the last confirmed human fatality from H5N1 in 2021. The boy died after developing multiorgan dysfunction. According to the WHO, the first human outbreak of the virus took place in 1997 in Hong Kong. There have been a little more than 900 known cases globally since 2003 with nearly 50 per cent proving fatal. in an area where the disease had been confirmed in captive birds. Last year, the strain spread rapidly in dairy cow herds in the US and the US Centres for Disease Control described it as an "ongoing multi-state outbreak".
Yahoo
02-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Texas children poisoned after RFK Jr touts vitamin A as measles treatment
Texas hospitals are treating children with vitamin A poisoning after Robert F Kennedy Jr, the US health secretary, promoted the supplement as a treatment for measles. The Covenant Children's hospital in Lubbock, a city in north west Texas, is looking after a small number of patients who all required treatment for measles but who also had elevated levels of vitamin A that was causing abnormal liver function, Texas Public Radio reported. There have also been reports of measles patients with abnormal liver function in neighbouring New Mexico. Both states have been hit hard by the worst US measles outbreak in years, even though the disease was declared eliminated in the country at the turn of the millennium. Almost 500 measles cases across 21 states have been confirmed by the US Centres for Disease Control (CDC) as of March 28 – a 360 per cent increase from the week before. Dr Ashish Jha, the former White House coronavirus response coordinator and dean of Brown University's School of Public Health, told ABC news on Monday that the US was 'on track to have the worst measles outbreak of this century'. Some 97 per cent of those infected had not been vaccinated and two people have died – the first measles deaths in 10 years. Mr Kennedy has been promoting vitamin A as a treatment for measles, writing in an article for Fox News that the supplement 'can dramatically reduce measles mortality'. He has also said the US government is 'delivering vitamin A' to West Texas to fight the outbreak., claiming that doctors are getting 'very, very good results'. Protection from measles is already readily available in the US in the form of the two-dose MMR vaccine – a preventative treatment with 97 per cent efficacy according to the CDC. While Mr Kennedy has voiced support for vaccines to protect both individuals and communities, he maintains that they are a 'personal decision'. Experts now fear that his endorsement of alternative treatments is confusing parents on how to keep their children safe. 'If people have the mistaken impression that you have an either-or choice of MMR vaccine or vitamin A, you're going to get a lot of kids unnecessarily infected with measles,' said Dr Peter Hotez, co-director of the Texas Children's Hospital Centre for Vaccine Development. 'That's a problem, especially during an epidemic,' he told CNN. 'And second, you have this unregulated medicine in terms of doses being given and potential toxicities.' Reports in Texas of heightened demand for cod liver oil, which is high in vitamin A, suggest that children are being given the supplement at home in an effort to treat the disease. Taking too much of the supplement can lead to vitamin A toxicity, which can cause headaches, nausea, vomiting and, in extreme cases, liver damage. Excess vitamin A in pregnant women can also cause birth defects. While health officials are concerned that the public is being misled, vitamin A, when administered in a hospital setting, can help reduce the severity of a measles infection. 'Like much of what RFK says, there's always a kernel of truth, which he sort of manipulates to legitimise the things he's saying,' Dr Anita Patel, a paediatric critical care doctor in Washington DC, told the Huffington Post. 'The kernel of truth is that he's right. Vitamin A at very high doses – high doses that you would never administer by yourself at home – but high-dose vitamin A administered in the hospital has shown to reduce both mortality and duration and severity of [measles] illness.' A CDC advisory recently said that vitamin A supplements could be used as a therapy for measles, but reaffirmed the importance of vaccination. Protect yourself and your family by learning more about Global Health Security Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Telegraph
02-04-2025
- Health
- Telegraph
Texas children poisoned after RFK Jr touts vitamin A as measles treatment
Texas hospitals are treating children with vitamin A poisoning after Robert F Kennedy Jr, the US health secretary, promoted the supplement as a treatment for measles. The Covenant Children's hospital in Lubbock, a city in north west Texas, is looking after a small number of patients who all required treatment for measles but who also had elevated levels of vitamin A that was causing abnormal liver function, Texas Public Radio reported. There have also been reports of measles patients with abnormal liver function in neighbouring New Mexico. Both states have been hit hard by the worst US measles outbreak in years, even though the disease was declared eliminated in the country at the turn of the millennium. Almost 500 measles cases across 21 states have been confirmed by the US Centres for Disease Control (CDC) as of March 28 – a 360 per cent increase from the week before. Dr Ashish Jha, the former White House coronavirus response coordinator and dean of Brown University's School of Public Health, told ABC news on Monday that the US was 'on track to have the worst measles outbreak of this century'. Some 97 per cent of those infected had not been vaccinated and two people have died – the first measles deaths in 10 years. Mr Kennedy has been promoting vitamin A as a treatment for measles, writing in an article for Fox News that the supplement 'can dramatically reduce measles mortality'. He has also said the US government is 'delivering vitamin A' to West Texas to fight the outbreak., claiming that doctors are getting 'very, very good results'. Protection from measles is already readily available in the US in the form of the two-dose MMR vaccine – a preventative treatment with 97 per cent efficacy according to the CDC. While Mr Kennedy has voiced support for vaccines to protect both individuals and communities, he maintains that they are a 'personal decision'. Experts now fear that his endorsement of alternative treatments is confusing parents on how to keep their children safe. 'If people have the mistaken impression that you have an either-or choice of MMR vaccine or vitamin A, you're going to get a lot of kids unnecessarily infected with measles,' said Dr Peter Hotez, co-director of the Texas Children's Hospital Centre for Vaccine Development. 'That's a problem, especially during an epidemic,' he told CNN. 'And second, you have this unregulated medicine in terms of doses being given and potential toxicities.' Reports in Texas of heightened demand for cod liver oil, which is high in vitamin A, suggest that children are being given the supplement at home in an effort to treat the disease. Taking too much of the supplement can lead to vitamin A toxicity, which can cause headaches, nausea, vomiting and, in extreme cases, liver damage. Excess vitamin A in pregnant women can also cause birth defects. While health officials are concerned that the public is being misled, vitamin A, when administered in a hospital setting, can help reduce the severity of a measles infection. 'Like much of what RFK says, there's always a kernel of truth, which he sort of manipulates to legitimise the things he's saying,' Dr Anita Patel, a paediatric critical care doctor in Washington DC, told the Huffington Post. 'The kernel of truth is that he's right. Vitamin A at very high doses – high doses that you would never administer by yourself at home – but high-dose vitamin A administered in the hospital has shown to reduce both mortality and duration and severity of [measles] illness.' A CDC advisory recently said that vitamin A supplements could be used as a therapy for measles, but reaffirmed the importance of vaccination.
