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THE NEWS
Bird flu cases continue to rise in the US, where the virus has infected dairy cattle in at least 12 states. Four mild cases have also been confirmed in humans.
The highly pathogenic virus, also known as avian flu, has primarily spread in Michigan, infecting 26 herds and two people.
It’s the first time this virus has been found in cows, according to the US government. The development of a new strain could potentially be able to attack the human respiratory tract more easily, marking a “dangerous” step toward an outbreak in humans, Sky News noted.
SIGNALS
Farmers wary of COVID-like tracking measures to curb bird flu spread
The Guardian, Reuters
The flu is ‘decimating wildlife’ around the world
BBC
Avian flu has grown into an “unprecedented” pandemic among animals, BBC Future wrote, and is “decimating wildlife” globally. Before the recent spread to cows, the disease killed half a billion farmed birds, millions of wild birds, as well as over 20 species of mammals, including bears and seals. Notably, the flu originated as a non-fatal disease that first occurred in wild animals. Its highly pathogenic and fatal strains began developing in poultry farms before spreading to wild birds and other species. People, and their ever-growing need for farmed meat, “are the real problem,” a pathologist told the BBC.
Growing concern over human outbreak
Reuters, BBC, Association of American Medical Colleges, Euronews
Public health experts have warned that bird flu could be a new pandemic “unfolding in slow motion,” Reuters reported. While few humans have contracted it, more than 50% who did have died, according to the BBC. Just how close we are to a potential human outbreak remains unclear, the Association of American Medical Colleges wrote; the flu isn’t passed on to people easily, but frequent human-cow contact could increase the risk, and the newly-developed strain could be more infectious than prior ones. Governments are already taking pre-pandemic measures: The European Commission bought more than a half a million doses of the avian flu vaccine.
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