A sign in an international airport in Jakarta, Indonesia warns passengers about identifying monkeypox, endemic to parts of Central and Western Africa but now spreading worldwide.
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In the past few weeks,more than 350 cases of monkeypox— a viral disease that’s a much milder cousin of smallpox — have been reported inmore than 20 countriesworldwide. That’s a surprise, and an unpleasant one. Monkeypox has surfaced periodically in the Congo Basin and in West Africa sinceits discovery in the 1950s,but past outbreaks haven’t involved cases in…
Emily Caffee, a physical therapist and lifelong athlete, cut her primary care provider slack for suggesting an antidepressant when she complained of fatigue, body aches and brain fog in the months after she became sick with Covid-19 in March 2020.
“She did a very thorough medical workup, and a lot of the lab values came back ‘normal’,” said Caffee, a 36-year-old Chicago resident. “We didn’t have very much to go off of in those early days. I think now we have so much more information” about long Covid, which was doctors’ eventual diagnosis for Caffee.
Cotton grasses on the banks of the Lower Ilerney, Russia. Credit: Alfred-Wegener-Institut / Stefan Kruse
Due to global warming, temperatures in the Arctic are climbing rapidly. As a result, the treeline for Siberian larch forests is steadily advancing to the north, gradually supplanting the broad expanses of tundra which are home to a unique mix of flora and fauna. Experts from the Alfred Wegener Institute have now prepared a computer simulation of how these woods could spread in the future, at the tundra’s expense. Their conclusion: only consistent climate protection measures will allow roughly 30 percent of the Siberian tundra to survive to mid-millennium. In all other, less favorable scenarios, the unique habitat is projected to disappear entirely. The study was just released in the journal eLife.
The climate crisis can be felt especially seriously in the Arctic: in the High North, the average air temperature has risen by more than two degrees Celsius over the past 50 years—far more than anywhere else. And this trend will only continue. If ambitious greenhouse-gas reduction measures (Emissions Scenario RCP 2.6) are taken, the further warming of the Arctic through the end of the century could be limited to just below two degrees. According to model-based forecasts, if the emissions remain high (Scenario RCP 8.5), we could see a dramatic rise in the average summer temperatures in the Arctic—by up to 14 degrees Celsius over today’s norm by 2100.
“For the Arctic Ocean and the sea ice, the current and future warming will have serious consequences,” says Prof Ulrike Herzschuh, Head of the Polar Terrestrial Environmental Systems Division at the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI). “But the environment on land will also change drastically. The broad expanses of tundra in Siberia and North America will be massively reduced, as the treeline, which is already slowly changing, rapidly advances northward in the near future. In the worst-case scenario, there will be virtually no tundra left by the middle of the millennium. In the course of our study, we simulated this process for the tundra in northeast Russia. The central question that concerned us was: which emissions path does humanity have to follow in order to preserve the tundra as a refuge for flora and fauna, as well its role for the cultures of indigenous peoples and their traditional ties to the environment?”
The tundra is home to a unique community of plants, roughly five percent of which are endemic, i.e., can only be found in the Arctic. Typical species include the mountain avens, Arctic poppy and prostrate shrubs like willows and birches, all of which have adapted to the harsh local conditions: brief summers and long, arduous winters. It also offers a home for rare species like reindeer, lemmings and insects like the Arctic bumblebee.
For their simulation, Ulrike Herzschuh and AWI modeler Dr. Stefan Kruse employed the AWI vegetation model LAVESI. “What sets LAVESI apart is that it allows us to display the entire treeline at the level of individual trees,” Kruse explains. “The model portrays the entire lifecycle of Siberian larches in the transition zone to the tundra—from seed production and distribution, to germination, to fully grown trees. In this way, we can very realistically depict the advancing treeline in a warming climate.”
The findings speak for themselves: the larch forests could spread northward at a rate of up to 30 kilometers per decade. The tundra expanses, which can’t shift to colder regions due to the adjacent Arctic Ocean, would increasingly dwindle. Since trees aren’t mobile and each one’s seeds can only reach a limited distribution radius, initially the vegetation would significantly lag behind the warming, but then catch up to it again. In the majority of scenarios, by mid-millennium less than six percent of today’s tundra would remain; saving roughly 30 percent would only be possible with the aid of ambitious greenhouse-gas reduction measures. Otherwise, Siberia’s once 4,000-kilometer-long, unbroken tundra belt would shrink to two patches, 2,500 kilometers apart, on the Taimyr Peninsula to the west and Chukotka Peninsula to the east. Interestingly, even if the atmosphere cooled again in the course of the millennium, the forests would not completely release the former tundra areas.
“At this point, it’s a matter of life and death for the Siberian tundra,” says Eva Klebelsberg, Project Manager Protected Areas and Climate Change / Russian Arctic at the WWF Germany, with regard to the study. “Larger areas can only be saved with very ambitious climate protection targets. And even then, in the best case there will ultimately be two discrete refuges, with smaller flora and fauna populations that are highly vulnerable to disrupting influences. That’s why it’s important that we intensify and expand protective measures and protected areas in these regions, so as to preserve refuges for the tundra’s unparalleled biodiversity,” adds Klebelsberg, who, in collaboration with the Alfred Wegener Institute, is an advocate for the establishment of protected areas. “After all, one thing is clear: if we continue with business as usual, this ecosystem will gradually disappear.”
EVERETT, Wash. —State agriculture officials said a confirmed case of avian flu was found Friday in a flock of birds in Snohomish County, raising fears that the highly infectious virus could end up threatening birds in other Western Washington counties.
In a written statement, the Washington State Department of Agriculture said it confirmed the case of avian influenza in a backyard flock but authorities did not disclose any other details about case, including if the infected birds were wild or belonged to an owner.
Before the Friday announcement, there had been 11 confirmed flocks that had tested positive for the virus since May 5 in eight different Washington state counties.
State investigators have said all of the previous cases have been backyard flocks with substantial exposure to wild waterfowl.
The Yukon is the latest jurisdiction in the country to see wild bird flu cases in nation-wide outbreak
Anna Desmarais · CBC News · Posted: May 27, 2022 5:47 PM CT | Last Updated: May 27
Cathy Stannard, co-owner of Mandalay Farm, said it would be difficult to replace the birds she would lose if there was a case of the avian flu in her flock. (Cheryl Kawaja/CBC)
The Yukon is the latest place to be hit with avian flu cases as an outbreak continues to spread across the country.
Officials from the department of environment said in a press release Friday that two waterfowl carcasses in southern Yukon tested positive for the H5N1 virus strand.
Avian flu is a highly contagious disease, spread by migratory wild birds, that causes severe illness and death in birds. In rare cases, the virus can spread to humans and other mammals like pigs, cats and dogs.
The disease has already made its way through flocks in the provinces, killing hundreds in its wake.
“Livestock farmers and Yukoners who own domestic birds need to protect their birds from this virus,” the department said in the news release, adding that includes backyard hens and pet poultry, as well as commercial poultry farms.
Kristenn Magnusson, Yukon’s acting program veterinarian, said this is the first time the avian flu has ever made its way to the territory.
“I mean, it’s something that we’re always aware of,” Magnusson said. “It’s something that’s always circulating, just like human flu is always circulating.”
Yukoners can look for a few signs and symptoms in their birds to see whether they are infected, Magnusson said, like decreased egg production for chickens, a lack of energy and swelling around the neck or eyes.
The influenza has a near 100 per cent death rate for an entire flock of birds once its detected, Magnusson said.
There are a few advantages, she continued, to how spread out the territory’s poultry farms are.
“We are a vast territory so we don’t have super high density production like what happens in some major centres,” Magnusson said.
Egg-laying chickens at Mandalay Farm in Yukon. (Cheryl Kawaja/CBC)
Cathy Stannard, the co-owner of Mandalay Farms outside Whitehorse, said she isn’t surprised to see that cases have made their way to the territory.
She said if a bird in her flock were to contract the virus, it would be a struggle to replace them.
“It’s not as if we could pick up the phone and say, ‘do you have any birds for us?'” she said. “It doesn’t work like that.”
Stannard said she’s been keeping her chickens inside, instead of letting them roam free, since hearing the news. So far, her flock is healthy so it shouldn’t affect their local egg sales.
The Yukon government is asking residents to report sightings of sick or dead birds to their TIPP line at 1-800-661-0525.
The government said in the press release that if the influenza does spread, compensation would be available for the birds that pass away.
MOSES LAKE — Avian influenza has arrived in Grant County, according to the Grant County Health District.
According to Monica Mecham, a spokesperson for the Grant County Health District, four dead snow geese found in Grant County — one in mid-April, the other three in early May — have tested positive for the H5N1 influenza virus, which poses a significant risk to domesticated poultry and is being spread by waterfowl as they migrate.
Mecham said information on exactly where the dead birds were found — one by a Moses Lake veterinarian, and the other three by a state wildlife biologist — was not available. She also said it takes time for results to come back from the Washington State Department of Health, which conducts the tests.
In order to avoid contact with the disease, Mecham said people encountering dead wild birds should not touch them and should report those birds to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife on the department’s website at https://bit.ly/AVNFLU.
“The biggest thing is don’t touch the wild birds. Don’t pick them up, that’s how it can be transferred,” she said. “Just don’t touch the dead birds. Leave them alone.”
Owners of domestic birds that appear to be sick or have died suddenly should call the Washington State Department of Agriculture’s avian health program at 800-606-3056, Mecham said.
WSDA is advising owners of small, non-commercial backyard flocks of domesticated poultry or waterfowl to keep their birds penned up and in covered enclosures and away from any contact with wild bird populations, and to provide domesticated birds with well water for drinking, not pond water or irrigation water, in order to prevent the spread of the disease, especially to large commercial poultry operations.
Because there is no cure for avian influenza, WSDA said that once birds become sick, the only response is to euthanize the entire flock — a potential disaster for large-scale poultry producers, WSDA notes on its bird flu website.
In addition to Grant County, H5N1 avian influenza has been confirmed in birds in King, Thurston, Whatcom, Okanogan, Clallam, Pierce, Spokane and Pacific counties since the first detection in the state on May 5.
The red fox is found throughout much of Alaska. (Lisa Hupp/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)
The new strain of bird flu that arrived in Alaska with the spring migration has now been detected in a fox that died in the Aleutian Islands.
Wildlife officials say the red fox, as well as eagles, found dead in the Unalaska area, were most likely feeding on birds that had died from the H5N1 avian influenza.
State veterinarian Dr. Bob Gerlach says that’s different from previous strains of bird flu.
“We generally don’t see avian influenza causing problems in these species, but this is an unusual case,” Gerlach said. “So between that and the significant number of mortalities among waterfowl, it’s a concern and significant.”
The H5N1 bird flu has caused the deaths of millions of poultry in the Lower 48, as well as wild birds and some foxes there.
In early May, Alaska confirmed its first case of the virus. It was found in a non-commercial flock of chickens and ducks in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough. But so far, wildlife officials say, it has not impacted domestic mammals in Alaska, and this strain and previous strains have not proven to be a significant health concern for humans or domesticated dogs and cats.
Those pets could still be susceptible, and Gerlach says there are plenty of other reasons to keep pets away from wildlife, especially dead birds.
“If there is a dead bird or dead animal there, we don’t know what they died from,” Gerlach said. “If it’s not influenza that’s transferred, it could be either bacteria or maybe another virus that is transferable, and the most common ones we see are salmonella and E. coli. And then obviously those can be transferred to people, too.”
Alaskans harvesting birds or other wildlife for food are urged to use the usual safety precautions, like wearing gloves, thoroughly cooking meat and not eating animals that appear to have been sick.
Anyone who sees a sick bird or one acting strangely, or the carcass of a bird, if the cause of its death is not readily apparent, can call the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Alaska Sick or Dead Bird Hotline. That number is 1-866-527-3358.
CHARLESTON COUNTY, S.C. — Several South Carolina agencies are warning residents and visitors to be alert after a “mass die-off” of vultures uncovered a form of bird flu.
The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control, Department of Natural Resources, and other agencies, in a joint statement, announced thathighly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI)had been found in wild vultures that were part of the mass die-off in Charleston County recently. Authorities said that HPAI is caused by influenza subtypes that include H5N1.
Cassopolis High School went on lockdown Friday after officials reported seeing a man on Ranger Drive with a firearm.
The Sheriff’s Department received a report of a subject with a firearm near Cassopolis Schools at 10:47 am.
The subject was in his vehicle, on the road, in the area of Kamp Kozy Street and Ranger Drive, near Ross Beatty High School in Jefferson Township, according to a release from Sheriff Richard J. Behnke.
School officials had spotted a subject “standing outside of his vehicle with what appeared to be a long-barreled rifle,” the statement said.
“In less than three minutes from the time dispatch took the initial call, responding units contacted the individual involved, who claimed that he was small game hunting in the…
Keanna Baxter spurned a come-on from the “eerie” Salvador Ramos after she witnessed a friend who dated him grow frightened of their volatile fellow Uvalde High School student.
“He dated my ex-friend. And then they broke up,” Baxter, 17, told the San Antonio Express News. “And then he tried to date me after that, but I told him no. Because he always had this kind of eerie sense about him.”
“She told me that he was scary,” Baxter said. “Like he would get super violent. And when he would lose his temper, she would literally be scared for her life, basically.
“He would send her these really nasty messages, where he’d go from super sweet to screaming at her back to super sweet.”
“He was overall just aggressive, like violent,” Baxter added. “He would try and fight women. He would try and fight anyone who told him no — if he didn’t get his way, he’d go crazy. He was especially violent towards women.”
Mourners gather at a memorial at City of Uvalde Town Square following the mass shooting.
One of those women was Crystal Foutz, 17, also a Uvalde High School student.
Ramos threatened to harm her in comments on Instagram, after he got into a fight on social media with her ex-boyfriend.
Children run to safety during the mass shooting at Robb Elementary.
“It was just harassing. And I never like provoked him or anything like that,” Foutz said Friday. “He was aggressive for no reason. … I just blocked him.”
Salvador Ramos was killed by police following the rampage.
Foutz also heard about Ramos harassing his former girlfriend after they broke up.
“Another friend of mine, when she worked with (Ramos), there was an incident between a girlfriend and a boyfriend — (Ramos) tried to fight the girlfriend,” Foutz told the Express News. “And it really was over nothing. Just because he was aggressive like that.”
Santos Valdez Jr., 18, said they were close until the future gunman went off the rails. Ramos showed up one day at a park where they played basketball with cuts all over his face. At first told Valdez he was scratched by his cat, then revealed the truth – he had cut himself “just for fun.”
There’s a video circulating of Ramos holding up a dead cat in the passenger seat of a car, said Baxter. Foutz said she saw TikTok videos Ramos posted of himself punching walls while wearing boxing gloves and declaring he could fight anyone.
Ramos posted about his guns on social media.
“He was just very like pushy,” Foutz recalled. “If you would ask for something or if he was trying to pick on you or he was trying to tell you something and you didn’t give him a reaction, it would make him angry … (He was) very pushy, very aggressive.”
Rumors circulating among the high school students say Ramos was angry that he wouldn’t be able to graduate. Reports have said he dropped out of high school, but Baxter saw him in the school last month. Foutz remembered seeing him on campus last fall.
“To be honest, I didn’t think twice about this kid,” Baxter said. “I barely knew this kid for like a year. He kind of popped out of nowhere.”
Both girls called Ramos a “loner” with “no friends.”
“The people that did try and give him a chance to be friends with, he scared them away,” said Foutz. “He was a bully, really. If you didn’t give him what he wanted, he was a bully to you.”
“He didn’t have any friends,” Baxter said. “To be honest, no one ever spoke to him. Just because people were genuinely afraid of him.”
A law enforcement officer displays a graphic showing the route Ramos took into Robb Elementary School.
In fact, some students thought that if there was a target for this type of tragedy, it would be the high school.
“We all thought maybe they’re going to do it to the high school — because we’ve gotten threats before,” she said. “But not to the kids. It should have been us. There was no reason to go and hurt those kids.
Salvador Ramos’s home being searched by the FBI.
“None of us are like that. None of us have that kind of hate in our heart to do something like that or know how this ever could have happened.”
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