MOSCOW (Reuters) – An ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that the world was probably on the verge of a new world war and the risks of a nuclear confrontation were rising.
“The world is sick and quite probably is on the verge of a new world war,” Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Putin’s powerful security council, told a conference in Moscow.
Related video: Vladimir Putin struggling to maintain WW2 narrative in Ukraine (Bang Showbiz)
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He said such a new world war was not inevitable but the risks of a nuclear confrontation were growing and more serious than concerns about climate change.
Putin says the world faces the most dangerous decade since World War Two. He casts the war in Ukraine as an existential battle with an aggressive and arrogant West, and has said that Russia will use all available means to protect itself against any aggressor.
The United States and its allies have condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as an imperial land grab. Ukraine has vowed to fight until all Russian troops withdraw from its territory, and says Russian rhetoric on nuclear war is intended to intimidate the West into curbing military aid.
(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Alison Williams and Peter Graff)
PLEASANTVILLE – Animal advocates have worked for a decade to outlaw “wildlife killing contests” in New York, but legislation in Albany has languished.
This session, a group of Pace University students are pushing for the bill to pass.Wildlife killing contests are as low as a hunter can crawl.
The nine students in this semester’s Animal Advocacy Clinic at Pace have researched the contests, petitioned for change and this week are headed to Albany to lobby for passage of thebill, sponsored by Sen. Timothy Kennedy, a Democrat who represents the greater Buffalo region, and Assemblymember Deborah Glick, a Democrat who represents the West Village to Tribeca.
While any avian influenzainfection in a human can cause severe disease, the recent bird fluoutbreakshave elevatedvarious concerns.
Whenever avian influenza viruses are circulating in poultry, wild birds, ormammals, there is a risk for humansdue to exposure to infected animals or contaminated environments.
Globally,elevenhumaninfluenza A H5N1 2.3.4.4binfections have beenreportedduring 2022-2023.
The World Health Organization (WHO) published Disease Outbreak News on April 21, 2023, explaining the human infection caused by Avian Influenza A (H5N1) inChile.
AndH5N1was first detected in birds in the Region of the Americas in December 2014.
Between December 2022 and February 2023, highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) was detected in wild aquatic birds (pelicans and penguins) and sea mammals (sea lions) in the Antofagasta…
Influenza D, a relatively recent addition to the alphabet of flu viruses, most commonly infects cattle. But experts have their eye on the threat it could potentially pose to humans.
Veterinarians first identified influenza D in pigs in 2011 and later sleuthed out the virus’s primary host: cattle. Scientists have since been watching for any signs that this bovine flu is infecting humans, as flus from birds and pigs sometimes do. There’s currently no definitive proof, but there are worrying hints that human infection is possible—and that if luck favored the virus on a couple key fronts, it could begin spreading among people.
“I think it’s fair to say that influenza D has everything it needs to infect humans from a scientific standpoint,” says Feng Li, a virologist at the University of Kentucky, who helped identify the virus as a new type of influenza.
Scientists have identified four different types of influenza virus, most of which infect humans. The flu vaccines distributed in the U.S. each fall are tuned to two strains each of influenza A and B. Influenza C is very common but typically mild, except for some cases in infants, and there is no vaccine for it. Influenza D is the most recently identified type and the only one that has not been confirmed to infect humans.
Influenza D is believed to be most prevalent in cattle. A nationwide survey in 2014 and 2015 showed that about 75 percent of the animals carried antibodies to the virus. It seems to cause only mild bovine infection, says Mayara Maggioli, a veterinary immunologist at Oklahoma State University. “It’s a very subtle disease,” she says. “It’s very well adapted.” Infected cattle can have symptoms that aren’t so different from the flu we all know: runny noses or eyes, increased heart and breathing rates and a fever, cough or reduced appetite. “It’s very similar to what we see in humans,” Maggioli says. Experiments have shown that inoculation can protect cattle from infection, but there is no commercially available vaccine for them.
Whether humans can be infected with influenza D is less clear. “There’s evidence out there that suggests it might be happening, but it’s far from conclusive,” says Richard Webby, a virologist at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Tennessee. “The data that’s out there could go either way.” NPR reported on the virus’s potential to jump to humans last month.
Although scientists have plenty of experience monitoring potential influenza spillover from animals, those efforts have focused on birds and pigs—not cattle. That’s because avian and swine influenzas have caused pandemics in humans, including the 1918 flu pandemic, which was caused by a virus that originated in birds, and the 2009 swine flu pandemic. Bovine viruses, as far as scientists know, have never wreaked such havoc. An avian influenza recently infected nearly 60 million poultry birds in the U.S. but has only infected one human, and no cases have been reported in humans in the U.S. since April 2022, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.ADVERTISEMENT
“From the flu perspective, certainly cows have never really been thought about in studies of spillover,” Webby says, although he notes that some groups are starting to investigate human-cattle interactions more closely. “It’s definitely an understudied interface. We absolutely need to know more about it.”
If influenza D were to start infecting humans, the first sign would likely be respiratory symptoms in cattle industry workers—and even the studies that show potential human immune reactions to the virus haven’t documented any sick workers. The second key piece of information would be if people with no direct interaction with cattle began to get sick, which would suggest the virus was spreading among humans.
Even if those two developments occurred, it’s not certain that influenza D would be disastrous among humans, especially given its relatively benign effects on cattle. “In a human, I think probably, disease-wise, it should be mild,” Li says. But “as we all know, Mother Nature cannot be predicted.”
All three experts Scientific American spoke with say there’s no guarantee the virus won’t eventually start infecting humans. “We’ve absolutely got to treat it with respect. We’ve absolutely got to learn more about it,” Webby says. “You can’t say there’s no risk of this virus at all. I think that would be a naive statement.”
SDA Marketing and Regulatory Programs Under Secretary Jenny Moffitt answered questions during the April 18 House Agriculture Committee Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy and Poultry hearing. (Screenshot from YouTube)
House Agriculture Committee Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy and Poultry hearing shows most subcommittee members have at least a basic understanding and concern of animal health threats
I have my answer now, and it is yes. And it isn’t just the possibility of vaccination they are talking about, numerous solid questions about HPAI came up during the hearing.
Shortly after that blog appeared online, I got a call from an apologetic member of Mann’s staff, who assured me that it is at least on the mind of Mann, R-Kansas, and that he fully expected that to be a topic of discussion of a then-upcoming hearing held by the House Agriculture Committee Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy and Poultry, of which Mann chairs.
The two key witnesses in that hearing were USDA Marketing and Regulatory Programs Under Secretary Jenny Moffitt, and APHIS Veterinary Services Associate Deputy Administrator Alecia Naugle.
Mann opened the hearing by saying: “Today’s hearing is particularly timely as we’re in the middle of the most devastating highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) outbreak on record and African swine fever (ASF) in the Dominican Republic and Haiti is dangerously close to our shores. … The new farm bill must continue to address these risks to animal health while bolstering a long-term ability for U.S. animal agriculture to be competitive in a global marketplace and provide consumers around the world, safe, wholesome affordable food produced in a sustainable manner.”
And similar sentiments were shared by Subcommittee Ranking Member Jim Costa, D-California.
“We’ve all seen first-hand how high pathogenic avian flu has devastated domestic poultry populations, where depopulations have had to take place,” said Costa. “We’ve got to continue to refine and improve our approach to address animal disease, and USDA needs all the tools to guarantee a robust response.”
Costa then went on to ask Moffit if a strategy is being developed “toward maintaining our trade efforts if we have efforts to vaccinate.
Moffitt said APHIS is “looking at all different tools in the tool chest,” and of the many things they are considering are a potential vaccines impact on animal and human health, the trade impacts and the actual implementation of a vaccine strategy.
When questioned further by Scott DesJarlais, R-Tennessee, Moffitt said that Dr. Rosemary Sifford, APHIS chief veterinary officer, would be soon meeting with animal health officials from across the globe at an upcoming World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) meeting, and said that a key topic of discussion is “if we need to look at vaccination differently.”
Partnering with wildlife agencies
Randy Feenstra, R-Iowa, noted that in his state, HPAI’s impact has been “very extreme,” with approximately one fourth of the birds depopulated in the current outbreak coming from Iowa. While he praised APHIS and Iowa Agriculture Secretary Mike Naig for their efforts, especially noting that the depopulation times degreased from about 15.5 days in 2015 to about four days in 2022, he wanted to know what else could be done to minimize the risk. He asked wondered if there was any sort of “protective modeling” that could be done or is being done.
Moffit said a major area of focus is working with producers to make sure they are reducing their farms’ attractiveness to wild bird populations, and state and federal wildlife agencies have been working with APHIS on this.
She also pointed out that APHIS Wildlife Services has tested more than 2 million wild birds, and they are studying these wild species “to know where they are traveling so our industry can be prepared.”
Educating small producers and backyard farmers
Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, said HPAI is affecting her state differently than many of the other states, with no commercial poultry operations affected, but other animals testing positive.
“Maine is not as large of a poultry producing state as it had been, but there are still small operations and backyard farmers that need to be concerned. Unfortunately, in a backyard flock you have more opportunities for making that connection with wildlife and I know you’ve been talking quite a bit about that,” said Pingree.
“In addition to the wild birds in Maine, we have had avian influenza detected in our harbor seals and so because we have a lot of saltwater farming, a lot of coastal farming, that’s something we’re concerned about too. What are you doing to educate the farmers?”
Moffitt said a big education program is the Defend the Flock program, and she gave pone example of its effectiveness. The first case of HPAI to be confirmed in commercial poultry in 2022 occurred in Indiana, and because of information shared through Defend the Flock and other educational initiatives, the operator of the farm was able to suspect that the turkeys on the property may have had HPAI and animal health authorities were contacted.
Workplace safety
Since HPAI is transmissible to humans, Don Davis, D-North Carolina, asked what APHIS is doing to assure workplace safety.
Naugle replied that anyone who is working on a response team is required to wear appropriate personal protective equipment, and a safety officer is on the premises anytime HPAI response is conducted. APHIS also collaborates with local and state health departments, as well as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to help monitor workers for signs of the flu.
Other topics addressed
The committee also spent time discussing ASF, protecting the aquaculture industry, gene editing in animals, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) and making sure APHIS continues to be well staffed as present employees reach retirement age.
I felt reassured with the questions that were being asked at this hearing, as they showed a good sense of awareness and concern of the HPAI and ASF situations. There was the one disappointing exception. That was Derrick Van Orden, R-Wisconsin, who asked about “African swine flu” and if the U.S. was importing pigs from Africa. And even after that display of agricultural ignorance, he still spoke rudely and in a condescending tone to Moffitt and Naugle. I hate to say it, but I guess in this day and age of bad behavior in Washington, to have only one disappointment in a congressional hearing isn’t too bad.
I want to thank Mann’s staff for alerting me to this hearing, which can be found on YouTube if you’d like to view it.
I am Region No. 1 director of the Wyoming State Trappers Association, representing Park, Big Horn, Hot Springs, and Washakie counties. I received a phone call Saturday evening from a member, and fellow trapper, regarding a recently published article in the Powell Tribune titled “In disbelief that trapping is permitted,” submitted by Elena Tillman of San Diego, Calif.
Upon her “visit” to our beautiful state of Wyoming, she “learned” that trapping is permitted in Wyoming. She was appalled and disappointed at the indiscriminate trapping and snaring practices on public land. As responsible trappers, we do not indiscriminately trap anything, whether on public or private lands. As trappers, we are very selective in the animals we harvest and conduct our efforts in accordance with the laws set by our Game and Fish Department.
Bird flu is transmitted mainly by wild birds, like these snow geese. The H5N1 avian influenza virus is causing the largest bird flu outbreak in history, infecting millions of birds and a growing range of mammal species. Though human infection is currently rare, efficient transmission between farmed minks in Spain raises concerns about potential human transmission. Just one or two mutations could make H5N1 more efficient at infecting humans.
An outbreak of H5N1 avian influenza that started in 2021 has become the largest bird flu outbreak in history, both in the U.S. and worldwide. In the U.S. the virus has led to the destruction of millions of commercially raised chickens, turkeys, ducks, and geese, and has killed thousands of wild birds.
Many virologists are concerned that this virus could spill over to humans and cause a new human pandemic. University of Colorado Boulder virologists Sara Sawyer, Emma Worden-Sapper and Sharon Wu summarize the compelling story of H5N1 and why scientists are closely watching the outbreak.
H5N1 is a specific type of influenza virus, predominantly harbored by birds, that was first detected on a goose farm in China in 1996. Recently it has begun infecting an exploding diversity of bird and mammalian species around the globe.
The virus is highly pathogenic to birds, meaning that infections often cause extreme symptoms, including death. But its impact on humans is complicated. There have been relatively few human infections detected – fewer than 900 documented globally over several decades – but about half of those infected individuals have died.
The good news about H5N1 for humans is that it currently doesn’t spread well between people. Most people who have contracted H5N1 have gotten it directly from interacting with infected poultry – specifically chickens, turkeys, ducks and geese, which often are raised in close quarters on large commercial farms.
There are only a small handful of examples of human-to-human spread. Because H5N1 doesn’t spread well between people, and because direct infection of humans by infected birds is still relatively rare, H5N1 has not yet erupted into a human epidemic or pandemic.
2. Why is this outbreak suddenly getting so much attention?
The first reason that so much attention is being paid to bird flu right now is that currently H5N1 is causing the largest “bird pandemic” ever recorded. A certain viral variant that arose in 2020, called H5N1 2.3.4.4b, is driving this outbreak.
In agricultural poultry flocks, if a few birds test positive for H5N1, the whole flock is killed regardless of symptoms or infection status. Higher prices for eggs and poultry meat in the U.S. are one result. The Biden administration is considering vaccinating farmed poultry flocks, but the logistics could be quite complicated.
The second reason for increased attention is that H5N1 is now infecting more bird and mammalian species than ever before. The virus has been detected in a broad array of wild birds and in diverse mammals, including badgers, black bears, bobcats, coyotes, ferrets, fisher cats, foxes, leopards, opossums, pigs, skunks and sea lions.
As H5N1 infects more species, it also increases its geographical range and produces more viral variants that could have new biological properties.
Peru decreed a 90-day health emergency in December 2022 after more than 13,000 pelicans died on its beaches, possibly infected with H5N1.
The third and most worrisome reason that this virus is getting so much press is that H5N1 now seems to be transmitting well between individuals of at least one mammalian species. In late 2022, mammal-to-mammal spread occurred in Spain in farmed minks. H5N1 spread very efficiently between the minks and caused clinical signs of illness and death in the mink populations where it was detected.
Sea lions in Peru are also succumbing to H5N1 virus in massive numbers. It hasn’t been confirmed definitively whether the sea lions are spreading the virus to each other or are contracting it from birds or H5N1-infected water.
Here’s the key question: If H5N1 can achieve spread in minks and possibly sea lions, why not humans? We are also mammals. It is true that the farmed minks were confined in close quarters, like chickens on a poultry farm, so that may have contributed. But humans also live in high densities in many cities around the world, providing the virus similar tinder should a human-compatible variant arise.
The World Health Organization is closely monitoring and analyzing the spread of H5N1 in mammals.
3. What features could help H5N1 spread well in humans?
Birds experience influenza as a gastrointestinal infection and spread flu predominantly through defecating in water. By contrast, humans experience influenza as a respiratory infection and spread it by breathing and coughing.
Over the centuries, some of these avian influenza viruses have been passed from birds to humans and other mammalian species, although this is a relatively rare event.
This is because bird influenza viruses must mutate in several ways to infect mammals efficiently. The most important mutational changes affect the tissue tropism of the virus – its ability to infect a specific part of the body.
Avian flu viruses have evolved to infect cells of the intestine, while human flu viruses have evolved to infect cells of the respiratory tract. However, sometimes a flu virus can acquire mutations that allow it to infect cells in a different part of the body.
Which cells influenza infects is partially dictated by the specific receptor that it binds. Receptors are the molecules on the surface of host cells that a virus exploits to enter those cells. Once viruses are in cells, they may be able to produce copies of themselves, at which point an infection has been achieved.
Bird flu infections in people are rare, but possible. Most reported bird flu infections in people have happened after unprotected contact with infected birds or contaminated surfaces. Credit: US CDC
Both human and bird influenza viruses use receptors called sialic acids that are common on the surfaces of cells. Bird influenza viruses, such as H5N1, use a version called a2,3-linked sialic acid, while human flu viruses use a2,6-linked sialic acid – the predominant variant in the human upper respiratory tract. Thus, to become efficient at infecting humans, H5N1 would likely need to mutate to use a2,6-linked sialic acid as its receptor.
This is a concern because studies have shown that only one or two mutations in the viral genome are enough to switch receptor binding from a2,3-linked sialic acid to the human a2,6-linked sialic acid. That doesn’t seem like much of a genetic obstacle.
4. Why don’t we make a vaccine just in case?
With avian influenza viruses, it is not possible to make effective human vaccines in advance, because we don’t know exactly what the genetics of the virus will be if it starts to spread well in humans. Remember that the seasonal flu vaccine must be remade every year, even though the general types of flu viruses that it protects against are the same, because the specific genetic variants that affect humans change from year to year.
Right now, the best way people can protect themselves from H5N1 is to avoid contact with infected birds. For more information about prevention, especially for people who keep domesticated birds or are bird-watching hobbyists, the Centers for Disease Control has a list of guidelines for avoiding H5N1 and other bird flu viruses.
A Limpopo man was arrested for allegedly accidentally shooting and killing his seven-month-old son with a pellet gun.
PHOTO: Darren Stewart, Gallo Images
A Limpopo man was arrested for murder after he went hunting for birds in Maololo, Ga-Mashabela village, and allegedly shot his seven-month-old son dead in the process.
The pellet rifle he used has been confiscated.
The 36-year-old man was arrested at his home in Maololo, which falls under the Masemola policing area,on Sunday.
Police spokesperson, Colonel Malesela Ledwaba, said police were summoned after the baby was rushed to a clinic for treatment. But he was certified dead on arrival, after suffering a gunshot wound to his chest.
VENTURA COUNTY, Calif. – California agencies working to protect critically endangered condors are on high alert after 20 recent deaths in northern Arizona, wildlife officials said last week.
A highly pathogenic avian influenza that has infected domestic and wild birds across the country has been confirmed as the cause of death for California condors in in the Arizona-Utah flock. By April 17, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reported 20 condors had died. So far, tests confirmed 10 of those birds were positive for the avian flu.
The virus had not been detected in condor populations in California and Baja California as of late this week. But agencies monitoring those flocks were preparing emergency actions in case that changes, said Ashleigh Blackford, the federal agency’s California condor coordinator.
Agencies have worked for decades to help the species recover. The largest flying land bird in North America – known for its bald head and black feathers – had all but disappeared in the wild by the early 1980s.
The population dropped to just 22 birds in the wild in 1982. Five years later, all remaining wild condors were placed in a captive breeding program to save the species from extinction.
By the end of last year, 347 condors lived in the wild – 183 in California and 116 in the Arizona-Utah region.
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Supporting separate populations in different areas was part of the plan to help the species overcome any single event such as a virus outbreak or wildfire. The more populations and the more birds increases the odds of survival, Blackford said.
The condors also continue to rely on captive-bred birds being released into the wild.
The avian influenza can spread quickly and appears to be almost 100% fatal for some species. But scientists didn’t know until the recent outbreak how infected condors would fare.
“Now, we know that answer, and it is an unfortunate answer,” Blackford said.
But some condors do appear to be recovering. Eight sick condors were captured in Arizona and brought to a facility for treatment. Of those, four died and four others are still receiving care and showing signs of improvement, wildlife officials said.
A setback for Arizona flock
The 20 recent deaths account for around 17% of the Arizona-Utah flock. That’s four times the number of deaths in the region last year.
“That’s a substantial setback for this flock,” Blackford said. “But it is not insurmountable.”
In all of last year, the agency reported 20 condor deaths, most of them in California. Lead poisoning is consistently the leading the cause of death and continues to be the biggest concern for agencies working to protect the species.
The birds feed on carcasses containing bullet fragments, so trying to get folks to use other types of ammunition continues to be a priority, wildlife officials said. Lead poisoning not only can be fatal but also can suppress the immune system, increasing the condors risk from other illnesses.
“If we were not losing birds to lead, then our population would be stronger,” Blackford said. “It would be more robust, and we would have healthier birds.”
AP Photo/Seth PerlmanFILE – Assault weapons and hand guns are seen for sale at Capitol City Arms Supply, Jan. 16, 2013, in Springfield, Ill.
Less than half of Americans in a new Monmouth University Poll said they’ll support an assault weapons ban in the country, down from a similar poll taken last year.
The poll,published on Monday, found that 46 percent of respondents said they’d support the banning of future assault weapons sales in the country, while 49 percent of those surveyed said they would oppose a ban.
That marks a nine-point drop from the 55 percent of respondents who supported a ban in a June 2022 poll, which came in the wake of the Uvalde, Texas, school shooting, in which a teenage gunman with an AR-15 style rifle shot dead 19 students and two teachers.
Exposing the Big Game 
