Everything you need to know about bird flu
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My youngest kid caught H1N1 ("swine flu") in 2010 when they were about a year old... spiked a 105 temp and had to be hospitalized for monitoring for a couple of days, scary as hell.
Would be really nice if our health services weren't being run by an antivaxxer in case we do end up in that boat again.
Interesting side note: out of 5 of us in the family, the kid that picked up H1N1 as a toddler was the only one who didn't get hit with COVID (our assumption is they probably had it, but that it was asymptomatic). No idea if that's a cause/effect or just a coincidence.
Would be really nice if our health services weren't being run by an antivaxxer in case we do end up in that boat again.
Interesting side note: out of 5 of us in the family, the kid that picked up H1N1 as a toddler was the only one who didn't get hit with COVID (our assumption is they probably had it, but that it was asymptomatic). No idea if that's a cause/effect or just a coincidence.
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Should the worst come to pass and this virus mutate into something that is transmissible human to human, how bad would it get?
Would the mRNA vaccine tech deployed for COVID mean an easier and faster path to a vaccine? Would we still need to do lockdowns and wreck the economy again (even more)?
And with the US potentially on team virus, would the rest of the world have the means to track it an develop treatments? (I assume and hope the answer to this is yes)
Would the mRNA vaccine tech deployed for COVID mean an easier and faster path to a vaccine? Would we still need to do lockdowns and wreck the economy again (even more)?
And with the US potentially on team virus, would the rest of the world have the means to track it an develop treatments? (I assume and hope the answer to this is yes)
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Enjoyed reading this very thorough article, thank you.
Had not heard of the pink eye connection to H5N1 in humans before...oddly I was sick for weeks with flu-like symptoms in December '23 to January '24 and also had pink eye. It was freaking relentless, would keep coming back and move from eye to eye. I thought it was strange then but now I am wondering if I didn't have this bird flu...if so, I hope I built up some antibodies to it awhile.
Had not heard of the pink eye connection to H5N1 in humans before...oddly I was sick for weeks with flu-like symptoms in December '23 to January '24 and also had pink eye. It was freaking relentless, would keep coming back and move from eye to eye. I thought it was strange then but now I am wondering if I didn't have this bird flu...if so, I hope I built up some antibodies to it awhile.
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Two things I can say with certainty:
- Having active defenses against H1N1 does not mean having any defenses against COVID. If only it were that easy, then one vaccine could do it all.
- IF you all had COVID and did not take precautions around them, then they most likely had it asymptomatic or with light hay fever, allergy-like, symptoms.
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I figured as much regarding H1N1, just wasn't sure if it would have impacted them having weaker symptoms.
They had zero symptoms with COVID, but as you say we all just assumed it was asymptomatic... we were careful, but we were also all stuck in the house and this was pre-vaccine.
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Excellent article! As someone in the poultry industry, and who has been closely watching this develop over the last few years, I'm glad to say I was able to learn somethings from this.
I was hoping to hear about progress on splitting broilers and or breeding stock from other birds in harmonized tariff codes, as a way to enable vaccination of birds in some populations while still being able to declare that the birds are free of HPAI virus or antibodies. Turkeys, for example, are largely a US only industry. We don't export a lot of the birds themselves or their meat. And they've been hit particularly hard by this due to their longer life cycle (12 to 20 weeks vs 5 to 7). They would be more than happy to lose export opportunities if it meant they could keep their birds from having to be culled.
How long before we stop bothering to check what the US CDC says becuase of Juniors influence over it? I mean, I still trust them, but I don't expect I will for much longer.
The other big piece (possibly the bigger piece) are the poultry genetics companies. The biggest ones are all US based (broilers, turkeys and laying hens), and rely heavily on US-based grand-parent and great-grand-parent flocks to supply the rest of the world. These companies would be crippled over night if they could not export live breeding stock from the US to the rest of the world over H5N1 concerns.
I was hoping to hear about progress on splitting broilers and or breeding stock from other birds in harmonized tariff codes, as a way to enable vaccination of birds in some populations while still being able to declare that the birds are free of HPAI virus or antibodies. Turkeys, for example, are largely a US only industry. We don't export a lot of the birds themselves or their meat. And they've been hit particularly hard by this due to their longer life cycle (12 to 20 weeks vs 5 to 7). They would be more than happy to lose export opportunities if it meant they could keep their birds from having to be culled.
Yet another reason to treat immigrants like people, and to offer free, universal health care in this country. It's just good business, even if you don't find the moral argument persuasive.
The best prospects for the vaccine to be actually used at this point probably come when this virus is essentially endemic to all countries around he world. Then the trade issues go away (can't keep out what is already inside), and we can focus on controlling this. It's stupid that this is the case, but we live in a stupid world.
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While cows survive, it's also pretty bad for the farmer, they can expect to lose out on $950 per clinically affected cow.
https://www.researchgate.net/public...nfluenza_A_H5N1_virus_infection_in_dairy_cows
https://www.researchgate.net/public...nfluenza_A_H5N1_virus_infection_in_dairy_cows
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Maybe, let's hope other countries look into that... because US research just got axed.
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He's wrong. It wasn't the pandemic that did it. It was the narrative put out by science-ignorant morons and power-hungry fucktards willing to exploit the wilful ignorance of the science-ignorant morons for their own personal gain that did it.
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Absolutely this. Mistakes were made all around the world, but largely due to lack of data, not incompetence (largely)
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Moderna has developed a mRNA vaccine for bird flu.
They received $590 million to finish development
https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/avian-in...na-develop-mrna-vaccines-against-pandemic-flu
Then …….. HHS decided to review the funding, no word yet on wtf they are reviewing
https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/avian-in...na-develop-mrna-vaccines-against-pandemic-flu
some earlier vaccines produced by traditional methods may work
They received $590 million to finish development
https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/avian-in...na-develop-mrna-vaccines-against-pandemic-flu
Then …….. HHS decided to review the funding, no word yet on wtf they are reviewing
https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/avian-in...na-develop-mrna-vaccines-against-pandemic-flu
some earlier vaccines produced by traditional methods may work
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WTF, man?! All the flora and fauna in Australia wants to kill us already, and somehow they get exempt from this nightmare?!
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Flu vaccination is partially protective against COVID infection. It's reasonable to suppose that flu infection might be, too, though currently it's not clear how long this partial protection lasts. (The effect was only recently identified.)
That said, small children were by far the most likely group to be asymptomatic or near asymptomatic during the COVID pandemic, so it's probably a case of, when you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras. Being asymptomatic seems more likely than being protected by a flu infection from 10 years ago. At least, if you must pick one and only one of those options. But in this case there is no reason to suppose that both couldn't be true, or even related.
(I'd also note that despite the protective effects, flu and COVID are not related viruses. It is likely that the protective effect is related to immune modulation in the respiratory tract, especially since irrc this partial protection covered most respiratory infections.)
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OTOH: Considering they've already lost one war against flightless birds, probably a good thing they're not gaining biological weapon capabilities.
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