Vaccine may save endangered California condors from succumbing to bird flu
Reply
By AFP – Agence France Presse
https://www.barrons.com/news/cambodian-man-dies-from-bird-flu-ba7749db
October 8, 2023
A morning briefing on what you need to know in the day ahead, including exclusive commentary from Barron’s and MarketWatch writers.I would also like to receive updates and special offers from Dow Jones and affiliates. I can unsubscribe at any time.I agree to the Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy.
Text size
A 50-year-old man has died from bird flu in Cambodia, the health ministry said on Sunday, the second death from the virus recorded in the country this year.
The World Health Organization has called for vigilance after bird flu was detected in mammals, but has stressed that the risk to humans is low.
The ministry said that tests had confirmed the man — who has not been named, but is from eastern Svay Rieng province bordering Vietnam — was positive for bird flu virus H5N1 from October 7.
Officials did not specify the man’s time of death, but said health authorities are “investigating and researching this bird flu case”.
The disease typically spreads from birds to humans through direct contact.
Officials said they were looking into the source of the infection, and were examining any suspected cases or people who may have been in contact with the victim.
The ministry said around 50 poultry, some belonging to the man and some owned by his neighbours, had died recently.
“The dead chickens were shared among villagers to eat,” the health ministry statement said.
The ministry urged villagers to be vigilant about H5N1, which is “still a threat to the health of people, especially children”.
The case is the 58th recorded instance of bird flu since the virus hit Cambodia two decades ago. In February an eleven-year-old girl died from the virus.
Since late 2021, Europe has been gripped by its worst-ever outbreak of bird flu, with North and South America also experiencing severe outbreaks.
This has led to the culling of tens of millions of domestic poultry worldwide, many with the H5N1 strain.
The global outbreak is also responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of wild birds.
The recent detection of the disease in a number of mammals, including foxes, otters, minks, sea lions and even grizzly bears, has sparked concern that humans could be more at risk.
ss-rbu/ssy
The Barron’s news department was not involved in the creation of the content above. This story was produced by AFP. For more information go to AFP.com.
© Agence France-Presse
By My Northwest and KIRO 7 News Staff
October 06, 2023 at 3:17 pm PDT
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/D5YCXF2MMAF7BG74OTDJNCSBVQ.jpg)
+Caption(Robert F. Bukaty/AP)
PUGET SOUND, Wash. — Wildlife officials are sounding the alarm, after determining several dead harbor seals found in the north Puget Sound had bird flu.
It’s believed that avian influenza jumped from wild birds in the Salish Sea to local harbor seals. That’s after three adult seals tested positive for the virus in mid-August, according to a report from the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
The press release was also linked in a NOAA social media post.
about:blank
This is as an ongoing outbreak of avian flu has affected wild populations of seabirds around Rat Island and Marrowstone Island. Katie Haman, a wildlife veterinarian with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, recently recovered 1,600 dead birds in the area and said that she was trying to minimize exposure to the seals, among other mammals.
“I think the fact that we only had five, I would like to think that number was lower than it could have been, because we were out collecting the carcasses and hopefully reducing that the transmission,” Haman said. “I hope that we are we’re in the clear, at least in the transmission from the birds to the mammals.”
Currently, evidence shows the virus is spreading directly from birds to seals and is not being spread from seal to seal. That’s important as a mammal-to-mammal spread could mean a higher risk of the virus spreading to humans. Bird flu can infect humans, but health officials say that risk is low.
“The discovery of HPAI H5N1 in seals brings to light the potential for cross-species transmission and highlights the complexity of managing infectious diseases in wildlife populations,” says Kristin Wilkinson, NOAA Fisheries’ regional stranding and entanglement coordinator said in a report.
Even so, beachgoers are urged to keep themselves and their pets away from animal carcasses. If you encounter sick, injured, or dead seals, call the West Coast Region Stranding Hotline at (866) 767-6114, and the Washington State Department of Health is advising residents not to touch the dead bird.
On the East Coast, however, about 500 gray and harbor seals have died from bird flu around the coast of Maine. NOAA declared an unusual mortality event for the area due to the unexpectedly high volume of deaths.
Last winter, an outbreak of bird flu occurred in the domestic population in commercial poultry farms, causing price spikes for eggs and meat, and forcing the euthanasia of more than 47 million chickens and turkeys.
This isn’t the first instance of bird flu among local animals in Washington in 2023. In January, an outbreak forced a Monroe farm to shut down for the rest of the year. That led to a mass culling of nearly 200 ducks.
In July, bird flu was found in birds and seals near Jefferson County’s Fort Flagler State Park.
This story was only posted by My Northwest.
©2023 Cox Media Group
Story by Isabel van Brugen •10h

Russian President Vladimir Putin gestures during his annual meeting with participants of the Valdai Discussion Club, October 5, 2023 in Sochi, Russia. President Putin is having a two-day visit to Russia’s Black Sea resort of Sochi to meet foreign and local political experts.© Contributor/Getty Images
Russian President Vladimir Putin outlined on Thursday when his country would use nuclear weapons.
The Russian leader escalated his nuclear rhetoric at an annual meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club in Sochi, declaring that Moscow has successfully tested the nuclear-powered, nuclear-capable Burevestnik cruise missile—a claim Kremlin officials had denied just days earlier.
Loaded: 100.00%Pause
Current Time 0:03
/
Duration 1:05Quality SettingsCaptionsFullscreenUnmute
0
There have been growing fears throughout Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine that Russia may use nuclear weapons.![]()
Three Omak Banks Paying Record High Interest. (See the List)
Many fear that Ukraine retaking Crimea would be a red line for Russia and that Putin may use his country’s nuclear capabilities to defend the territory. Putin illegally annexed the Black Sea peninsula from Ukraine in 2014.
“In the event of an attack on Russia, no one has any chance of survival,” Putin warned.
In a wide-ranging speech, Putin said Russia’s military doctrine outlined two reasons for the country’s potential use of nuclear weapons—the first being a counter attack should another country first launch a nuclear strike on Russia.
He said no nation would survive a retaliatory nuclear strike from Russia.
“To date, there will be no chance for the aggressor to survive in the event of our response,” he said.
The second reason, Putin said, is a threat to the existence of the Russian state, even if conventional weapons are used against the country. Putin said he saw no reason to lower the bar for using nuclear weapons, as one Russian analyst had suggested.
Support great journalism
and enjoy unlimited ad free access
1 Month $1
“I don’t see the need for this. There is no situation in which today something would threaten the existence of Russian statehood. I think no person in his right mind would think of using nuclear weapons against Russia. And a potential enemy knows about our capabilities,” he added.
The Russian leader said back in September 2022 that he’d be prepared to use nuclear weapons to defend Russian territory.
“If the territorial integrity of our country is threatened, we will without doubt use all available means to protect Russia and our people—this is not a bluff,” Putin said in a televised address to the nation at the time.
Putin was also quoted by Russia’s state-run news agency RIA Novosti as saying Thursday that the “last successful test of the Burevestnik, a global-range cruise missile with a nuclear installation, a nuclear propulsion system, has been conducted.”
When Putin first announced the program to develop the Burevestnik in 2018, he touted it as a “a low-flying stealth missile carrying a nuclear warhead, with almost unlimited range, unpredictable trajectory and ability to bypass interception boundaries.”
Putin didn’t say when the latest test took place