Well, the United States has recorded its first H5N1 death. The serious case in Louisiana has passed away. This case was contracted from backyard and wild birds.
Outbreaks continue to occur in dairy cattle and on poultry farms both large and small. Confirmed human cases are only about 70, most of them in dairy workers, who get mild disease. It is not clear if the viral clade in cows is actually weaker, or if it is being attenuated by being passed by contact rather than respiratory droplets. It is still quite capable of killing cats.
DON’T BE THE NEXT CASE. Really really don’t be the next death. Wild birds are the biggest risk to humans and their pets.
Arizona Game and Fish yesterday urged hunters and falconers to take steps to avoid and prevent the spread of the virus, given recent detections in the state's domestic poultry and wild birds. It said dabbling duck species that carry the virus rarely show illness signs, but Canada geese, eagles, other raptors, and domestic poultry appear to be susceptible to more severe clinical disease. [my bold]
Waterfowl are most susceptible, but songbirds, raptors, and corvids can all catch it, as well as domestic poultry. If your backyard chickens get it, they are all going to die. You must report, and the whole flock will have to be euthanized. Wear mask and gloves whenever handling birds or cleaning their areas. It is OK to continue feeding songbirds in your yard, they are less of a vector than waterbirds. Do glove and mask when cleaning the feeder just in case.
Do not try to help a sick bird. You won’t succeed, and you will put yourself and the community at risk.
Raw poultry is the vector that has killed many cats. DO NOT feed your pets raw food diets. They may be made from sick animals which would not be permitted for human consumption. (A man in Cambodia died on January 10 after eating sick poultry from his own flock.) Raw milk has infected cats as well. And cats are able to pass the virus among themselves, though there is no sign of passing it to humans. Yet. Maybe. We still don’t know how the British Columbia teen got infected.
There has been no human-to-human transmission so far, but other mammal species such as cats and ferrets have shown the ability to pass it to each other, so it isn’t exactly a huge leap that has to be made.
If this starts spreading, vaccines will not stop it. Nor will nearly enough be available quickly enough. Flu vaccines reduce severity but are not that great at preventing infection and spread. Masks WILL BE the most effective tool for preventing spread. Make sure you are stocked up.
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Oh, and just to ensure sweet dreams, there’s also a highly pathogenic H5N5 bird flu spreading in Europe. Which also kills cats.
The kittens are from Ísafjörður in the Westfjords region of northwest Iceland, but the one diagnosed as having H5N5 had arrived in Reykjavík, the country's capital.
MAST said the same H5N5 strain had been detected in Iceland's wild birds in September 2024 and in poultry in December 2024. It added that the cats likely contracted the virus from wild birds.
A separate report to the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH) said the kittens' main clinical signs were lethargy, loss of appetite, cramps, and stiffness.
H5N5 expands geographic range, including Greenland
The most recent quarterly overview of avian flu from the European Centres for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the European Food Safety Agency (ESFA) said H5N5 viruses continue to expand their geographic and species range, with spillovers to domestic birds reported in Iceland, Norway, and the United Kingdom.
In a new related development, animal health officials in Greenland reported highly pathogenic H5N5 in a northern fulmar, a sea bird, found dead in October in the northwest, according to notification today from WOAH.
Quotes and information from CIDRAP from the University of Minnesota, an infectious disease news source I highly recommend.
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