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Tag: outbreaks

Topic: avian fluView all posts for the topic: avian flu

What we’re starting to learn about H5N1 in cows, and the risk to people

Published April 30, 2024

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Published by: STAT
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By Helen Branswell, Megan Molteni

The H5N1 bird flu virus has been around for decades, and the damage it wreaks on chickens and other poultry is well documented. But the recent discovery that the virus has jumped into dairy cattle — whose udders seem to be where the virus either infects or migrates to — has dumbfounded scientists and agricultural authorities.

Questions for which there are pretty clear answers when it comes to birds are suddenly unsettled science in cows. How are they getting infected? Are they transmitting the virus cow to cow, or are human actions — activities that are part of the day-to-day of farming — serving as an unrecognized amplifier of viral transmission? In the interface between infected cows and humans, how might people be at risk? Does consuming milk laced with live H5 virus pose a hazard?

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Topic: avian fluView all posts for the topic: avian flu

There’s never a good time to drink raw milk. But now’s a really bad time as bird flu infects cows

Published April 29, 2024

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Published by: STAT
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By Helen Branswell

Scientists who know about the types of pathogens — E. coli and Salmonella among them — that can be transmitted in raw milk generally think drinking unpasteurized milk is a bad idea. But right now, they believe, the danger associated with raw milk may have gone to a whole new level.

“If I were in charge, for the moment I would forbid the selling of raw milk,” said Thijs Kuiken, a pathologist in the department of viroscience at Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, who has done research on H5N1 and the damage it inflicts for about two decades.

Continue readingThere’s never a good time to drink raw milk. But now’s a really bad time as bird flu infects cows
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Topic: AlbertaView all posts for the topic: Alberta

Confirmed case of measles in Edmonton, AHS warns of public exposure

Published April 24, 2024

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Published by: Edmonton Journal
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By Cindy Tran

Alberta Health Services is warning the public that an individual with lab-confirmed measles has been in public settings in Edmonton while infectious.

In a Wednesday news release, officials sent out a list of locations and times of when the infected person was out in public and said residents who were at any of the locations during the specified dates and times may have been exposed to measles:

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Topic: avian fluView all posts for the topic: avian flu

USDA Now Requiring Mandatory Testing and Reporting of HPAI in Dairy Cattle as New Data Suggests Virus Outbreak is More Widespread

Published April 24, 2024

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Published by: AgWeb
By Tyne Morgan

USDA is now ordering all dairy cattle must be tested prior to moving the animals across state lines as a way to help stop the spread of HPAI H5N1 impacting dairy herds across the country. This comes after a lab at Ohio State University detected genetic material of the virus in 38% of retail milk samples they’ve tested, data that also suggests the current outbreak is being underreported.

In a new Federal Order announced on Tuesday, USDA says in an effort to protect the U.S. livestock industry from the threat posed by highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza, there are a number of actions being taken with federal partners to limit the spread.

Continue readingUSDA Now Requiring Mandatory Testing and Reporting of HPAI in Dairy Cattle as New Data Suggests Virus Outbreak is More Widespread
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Topic: avian fluView all posts for the topic: avian flu

Bird flu virus found in grocery milk as officials say supply still safe

Published April 23, 2024

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Published by: The Washington Post
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By Lena H. Sun, Rachel Roubein, Dan Diamond

Viral fragments of bird flu have been identified in samples of milk taken from grocery store shelves in the United States, a finding that does not necessarily suggest a threat to human health but indicates the avian flu virus is more widespread among dairy herds than previously thought, according to two public health officials and a public health expert who was briefed on the issue.

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Topic: avian fluView all posts for the topic: avian flu

H5N1 bird flu virus particles found in pasteurized milk but FDA says commercial milk supply appears safe

Published April 23, 2024

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Published by: STAT
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By Helen Branswell, Nicholas Florko, Megan Molteni, Rachel Cohrs Zhang

Testing conducted by the Food and Drug Administration on pasteurized commercially purchased milk has found genetic evidence of the H5N1 bird flu virus, the agency confirmed Tuesday. But the testing, done by polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, cannot distinguish between live virus or fragments of viruses that could have been killed by the pasteurization process.

The agency said it has been trying to see if it could grow virus from milk found to contain evidence of H5N1, which is the gold standard test to see if there is viable virus in a product. The lengthy statement the agency released does not explicitly say FDA laboratories were unable to find live virus in the milk samples, but it does state that its belief that commercial, pasteurized milk is safe to consume has not been altered by these findings.

Continue readingH5N1 bird flu virus particles found in pasteurized milk but FDA says commercial milk supply appears safe
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Topic: avian fluView all posts for the topic: avian flu

Scientists say USDA is sharing too little data too slowly on H5N1 flu

Published April 23, 2024

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Published by: CNN
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By Brenda Goodman

When the US Department of Agriculture announced late Sunday that it had publicly posted new data from its investigation into a bird flu outbreak in cattle, scientists eagerly searched a well-known platform used globally to share the genetic sequences of viruses.

The sequences weren’t there. As of Tuesday morning, they still aren’t.

Researchers looking to track the evolution and spread of H5N1 say the information that was posted — raw data on a US server — isn’t very useful and is anything but transparent. They also say the government’s release of information in the outbreak, which was confirmed in cattle almost a month ago, has been painfully slow.

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Topic: QuebecView all posts for the topic: Quebec

Quebec successfully pushes back against rise in measles cases

Published April 18, 2024

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Published by: CBC News
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Quebec appears to be winning its battle against the rising tide of measles after 45 cases were confirmed province-wide this year.

“We’ve had no locally transmitted measles cases since March 25, so that’s good news,” said Dr. Paul Le Guerrier, responsible for immunization for Montreal Public Health.

There are 17 patients with measles in Quebec currently, and the most recent case is somebody who was infected while abroad, he said.

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Topic: avian fluView all posts for the topic: avian flu

Bird flu detected in cows in three more Michigan counties, agriculture department says

Published April 12, 2024

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Published by: Michigan Public
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By Zena Issa

The recent detection of highly pathogenic avian influenza, commonly known as bird flu, has been confirmed in three additional dairy herds in Michigan counties: Ionia, Isabella, and Ottawa, the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development said Friday. That brought the total to four affected counties, with Montcalm County the first to detect the disease in a dairy herd about two weeks earlier.

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Topic: measlesView all posts for the topic: measles

Case of measles confirmed in adult in Durham

Published April 3, 2024

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Published by: Toronto Star
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By Asma Sahebzada

The Durham Region Health Department is investigating a confirmed case of measles in the region after an adult was exposed during a recent trip abroad.

In a news release on Wednesday, the health department confirmed that “a local adult” is currently isolating at home after acquiring the illness, but it is not mentioned where in Durham region the adult resides.

Durham health has determined that individuals who travelled on the Royal Jordanian Airlines RJ271 flight on Thursday, March 28 departing from Jordan at 10:43 a.m. and arriving to Pearson airport on the same day at 5:24 p.m. local time — may have been exposed to the virus.

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Topic: avian fluView all posts for the topic: avian flu

Tests confirm avian flu on New Mexico dairy farm; probe finds cats positive

Published April 2, 2024

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Published by: CIDRAP
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By Lisa Schnirring

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service yesterday announced that tests have now confirmed highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in…

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Topic: measlesView all posts for the topic: measles

Le nombre de cas de rougeole en hausse au Canada

Published March 27, 2024

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Published by: La Presse / The Canadian Press
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By Nicole Ireland

The number of confirmed measles cases in Canada so far this year is more than three times higher than all infections recorded in 2023, the country’s public health official said, urging people to make sure their vaccines are up to date.

The Public Health Agency of Canada identified 40 confirmed cases across the country in 2024, its Chief Administrator, Dr. Theresa Tam, confirmed on Wednesday.

Tam expressed concern that an insufficient number of school-aged children have not been properly vaccinated against the highly contagious virus.

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Topic: measlesView all posts for the topic: measles

Measles cases in Canada are increasing, Canada’s chief public health officer warns

Published March 27, 2024

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Published by: CTV News / The Canadian Press
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By Nicole Ireland

The number of confirmed measles cases in Canada so far this year is more than three times higher than all infections recorded in 2023, the country’s chief public health officer said as she urged people to ensure their vaccinations are up to date.

The Public Health Agency of Canada is aware of 40 confirmed cases across the country in 2024, Dr. Theresa Tam said on Wednesday.

Tam said she is concerned that not enough school-aged children have been adequately vaccinated against the highly contagious virus.

“I strongly advise parents or caregivers to ensure that children in their care have received all measles vaccines according to schedule,” she said in an interview.

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Topic: measlesView all posts for the topic: measles

L’éclosion de rougeole, un symptôme de l’hésitation vaccinale

Published March 24, 2024

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Published by: Radio-Canada
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By Mélanie Meloche-Holubowski

There have now been around thirty cases of measles in Quebec since the start of the year. While this number may not seem high, measles outbreaks indicate that vaccination coverage is inadequate. Interview with Ève Dubé, anthropologist and holder of the CIHR Applied Public Health Chair in the Anthropology of Vaccination Issues, INSPQ-ULaval.

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Measles is highly contagious, but vaccine-preventable: A primer on recent outbreaks, transmission, symptoms and complications, including ‘immune amnesia’Colourized transmission electron micrograph of a measles virus particle (red). Photo: microscopy by CDC; layout, colorization and visual effects by NIAID. Licensed under Creative Commons CC BY 2.0 DEED Attribution 2.0 Generic license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
Topic: measlesView all posts for the topic: measles

Measles is highly contagious, but vaccine-preventable: A primer on recent outbreaks, transmission, symptoms and complications, including ‘immune amnesia’

Published March 21, 2024

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Published by: The Conversation
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By Mansour Haeryfar

Canada is seeing a resurgence of measles, with cases in the first quarter of 2024 already far surpassing the total for all of 2023. There were 12 cases last year, and more than three times that number so far in 2024, with 38 reported as of March 19.

Most of these cases (28) are in Québec, and eight are in Ontario, while Saskatchewan and British Columbia have each reported one case.

As an immunologist with a focus on host-microbe interactions and antiviral immunity, I have been following recent measles outbreaks.

Continue readingMeasles is highly contagious, but vaccine-preventable: A primer on recent outbreaks, transmission, symptoms and complications, including ‘immune amnesia’
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Topic: Ottawa-GatineauView all posts for the topic: Ottawa-Gatineau

Respiratory virus levels mostly steady, but 13 flu hospitalizations in latest update

Published March 21, 2024

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Published by: Ottawa Citizen
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Respiratory disease levels have remained mostly steady in the past week, Ottawa Public Health says in its latest update.

Influenza remains a major concern with 13 more patients hospitalized in the seven days ended March 16. There were 14 new hospitalizations for COVID-19, which OPH described as “low and decreasing since last week.”

There were 45 more confirmed COVID-19 cases, about half of them in patients 65 years of age and older.

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