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By Michelle Roberts

Digital health editor

UK health experts are sharing details of their Covid-style plans against bird flu, including modelling for the unlikely scenario that it could mutate and cause a pandemic in people.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) says there is no evidence H5N1 virus is an imminent threat or can spread between people, despite some getting sick after contact with infected birds.

But there is no room for complacency.

One expert told the BBC “we must prepare for the worst” just in case.

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The World Health Organization (WHO) is urging heightened vigilance from all countries, following the death of an 11-year-old girl in Cambodia from H5N1.

The girl’s father has also tested positive, according to Cambodia’s health minister.

Investigators are working to establish if infected birds were the cause, rather than a case of human-to-human transmission.

Humans rarely get bird flu, but when they do it is usually from coming into direct contact with infected birds.

Since late 2021, the world has been experiencing one of the worst global avian influenza outbreaks on record, with tens of millions of poultry culled and mass wild bird die-offs.

And there have been a few infections in some mammals, including foxes and otters in the UK.

Dr Meera Chand, from the UKHSA, said all of the latest evidence suggested H5N1 could not currently spread easily to people.

“However, viruses constantly evolve, and we remain vigilant for any evidence of changing risk to the population, as well as working with partners to address gaps in the scientific evidence.”

In preparation for a worst-case scenario of human-to-human spread, the UKHSA is modelling:

• How many might become infected and get very sick
• Whether lateral flow tests and blood tests would be helpful
• What genetic mutations might signal an increased risk to human health

When the Covid pandemic hit, there were no suitable vaccines available to fight that virus. But for bird flu, there are already several good candidates that might help.

WHO-affiliated labs already hold two flu virus strains that are closely related to the circulating H5N1 virus, that manufacturers can use to develop new shots if needed, experts said at a meeting on Friday.

Prof Peter Openshaw, from Imperial College London, is a member of Nervtag – the group that advises the British government on new and emerging threats from respiratory viruses.

He told the BBC that the fact that we are still in a Covid pandemic in no way lessened the possibility of another pandemic coming from elsewhere.

“We absolutely need to watch this one,” he said.

“The good news at the moment is that there’s no evidence of human-to-human spread.

“We need to prepare for the worst but obviously hope for the best, to use the old phrase.”

Prof Sir Andrew Pollard, part of the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid vaccine team, told the BBC that bird flu had “pandemic potential” as humans did not have immunity.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, he said: “In the human population at the moment there is no immunity against this strain of H5N1 because we never had an outbreak of that in humans.

“So there’s just no immunity, and that’s why it has pandemic potential… and why it’s so important to be vigilant.”

“Not another pandemic” might well be the exasperated response of many to talk of the risks from bird flu.

Covid fatigue is understandable but the H5N1 virus is a real concern to many scientists who monitor global disease threats.

Thankfully, the virus does not spread easily from birds to humans, requiring close contact. That would need to change if the threat of a human pandemic was to be realised, which would require the virus to mutate.

Since 2003 the WHO has recorded 868 cases in humans, of which 457 were fatal, so the mortality rate is more than 50%.

Scientists want to see better surveillance, more investment in vaccines and antivirals – so that should the worst ever happen, the world will be better prepared than it was when Covid emerged.

Bruce Y. Lee

Senior Contributor

https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucelee/2023/02/25/h5n1-bird-flu-kills-11-year-old-girl-in-cambodia-father-infected/?sh=204b48b42053

I am a writer, journalist, professor, systems modeler, computational and digital health expert, avocado-eater, and entrepreneur, not always in that order.Follow

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Feb 25, 2023,12:40pm EST

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From a bird’s eye view, the H5N1 avian influenza situation has been very worrying for over a year. And now it’s rather worrying from a human’s eye view as well as a mink’s eye view, an otter’s eye view, a fox’s eye view. The Cambodian Health Ministry has found not just one but two humans infected with the H5N1 bird flu virus with one of the cases ending up in death. These reported human cases along with the continuing spread of this virus among birds around the world and the detection of the virus in minks, otters, and foxes has led a World Health Organization (WHO) official to call the whole situation “worrying.”

You never want to hear a WHO official say the word “worrying” unless it’s something like, “We’re worrying that you have too many different types of cake to choose from on the menu.” Now, in the case of H5N1, “worrying” doesn’t mean “time to panic and hoard toilet paper.” This virus hasn’t yet demonstrated the ability to jump from one human to another human. Such human-to-human transmission would be needed for this virus to potentially cause a pandemic among those who don’t have feathers and regularly wear clothes. This virus, which already has infected over 40 million birds worldwide since October 2021, has been a primarily a threat to those with wings, meaning those who have wings as body parts and not those who have simply ordered wings from a restaurant. Nevertheless, it’s important for humans to keep a close eye on what’s been happening in Cambodia.

These two new cases in Cambodia have become the first reported H5N1 bird flu cases in the country since 2014. The first of these two cases was an 11-year old girl from Cambodia’s rural Prey Veng province, who was diagnosed on Wednesday after a week of high fevers, a cough, and a sore throat. She unfortunately died that same day as tweeted by the Cambodian Government on February 22:

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Then, less than two days later, on February 24, the Cambodian Health Ministry reported the second case, the girl’s father:https://embedly.forbes.com/widgets/media.html?type=text%2Fhtml&key=3ce26dc7e3454db5820ba084d28b4935&schema=twitter&url=https%3A//twitter.com/PeacePalaceKH/status/1629009566548762626&image=https%3A//i.embed.ly/1/image%3Furl%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fabs.twimg.com%252Ferrors%252Flogo46x38.png%26key%3D3ce26dc7e3454db5820ba084d28b4935

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It’s not yet clear whether transmission between the girl and her father had actually occurred or whether this was a bird-in-hand situation with both of them catching the virus from birds. Four of the 12 humans who have been in close contact with the girl have had flu-like symptoms, based on a report from Fresh News Asia. However, aside from the father, none of them have tested positive for the H5N1 avian virus so far. Authorities in Cambodia have been testing birds in the area too and warning people to avoid touching either dead or sick birds. Of course, there probably aren’t too many situations where authorities will say, “Go ahead and touch dead birds all that you want.”

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These two cases from Cambodia mean that there have now been nine human cases of the 2.3.4.4b clade of H5N1 avian influenza that’s been circulating amongst birds. Before the current Cambodia situation, the last reported human infection occurred about a month-and-half ago in the Bolívar province of Ecuador when nine-year-old girl was hospitalized with a severe infection. According to a January 18 WHO report, this girl had been in contact with backyard poultry and started having symptoms on December 25, 2022. Five days later she entered the hospital and was transferred on January 3, 2023, to a pediatric hospital in critical condition. She developed septic shock and required mechanical ventilation due to pneumonia. Other human cases since 2021 have appeared in other China, India, Spain, the U.K., and the U.S.

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To date, public health experts have considered the threat of the H5N1 avian influenza virus to humans as low. It’s been more of a fine feathered mess since the virus hasn’t yet demonstrated the ability to consistently bind to and enter cells in the human respiratory tract. Nonetheless, flu viruses have shown over and over again that they can mutate in various ways. The right mutations (or the wrong ones, depending on your perspective) could make the H5N1 avian influenza virus become more of a threat to humans.

There has been a “furry” of H5N1 bird flu cases in some of our fine furred friends such as minks, otters, and foxes. For example, a Rapid Communication published in the journal Eurosurveillance on January 19, 2023, described an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) A(H5N1) on a mink farm in the Galicia region in Spain in October 2022. A significant increase in mink deaths was the first clue to farm workers that something was amiss. While such mammals may seem closer to humans than birds, if you haven’t noticed, minks aren’t exactly the same as humans. They don’t wear Spanx and some of their cells do have some similarities to bird cells. However, samples from the mink outbreak did show the virus to have a mutation in its PB2 gene that was present in the avian-like PB2 gene of the H1N1 flu virus that caused the 2009 pandemic. This mutation could potentially help the virus connect with cells in the airways of humans.

WHO has been worried about what’s been happening with the H5N1 avian influenza virus globally? The answer is apparently yes. A February 24 article in The Guardian by Nicola Davis and agencies, quoted Sylvie Briand, MD, MPH, PhD, Director of the Global Infectious Hazard Preparedness Department at the WHO, as saying, “The global H5N1 situation is worrying given the wide spread of the virus in birds around the world and the increasing reports of cases in mammals including humans.” The quote continued with, “WHO takes the risk from this virus seriously and urges heightened vigilance from all countries.”

Heightened vigilance will be important since you never know when the next pandemic might emerge. After all, the world did get caught with its collective pants down in 2020 with the Covid-19 coronavirus. Now, heightened vigilance doesn’t mean donning a trench coat and sunglasses, peering around the corners of buildings, and looking at every bird suspiciously. It does mean, though, that countries should install and maintain ways of detecting and quickly investigating any unusual cases of the flu. It also means keeping close track of what’s happening among different bird populations such as poultry farms and trying to control the spread of the virus as much as possible. No one wants 2023 to give everyone the bird, the bird flu, that is.

Rylen Heavenfire, who is free on bail, was not present in court for the scheduling appearance

Author of the article:

Kevin Martin

Published Feb 24, 2023  •  2 minute read

https://calgaryherald.com/news/crime/sentencing-hearing-set-for-tsuutina-man-who-killed-brother-in-drunken-hunting-incident

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Tsuut’ina resident Rylen Heavenfire will face an April 21 sentencing hearing for manslaughter in the fatal shooting of his brother during a drunken hunting outing.

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Defence counsel Steve Wojick appeared in Calgary Court of King’s Bench Friday to set the half-day hearing before Justice Michele Hollins.

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Heavenfire, who is free on bail, was not present in court for the scheduling appearance.

“We are setting a date for sentencing,” Wojick told Hollins.

Argument resulted in Rylen Heavenfire shooting his brother in the face

In September, a Calgary jury found Rylen, 23, guilty of manslaughter in the Oct. 25, 2019, fatal shooting of his brother, Randen.

Rylen had been hunting and drinking with his brother in woods near their grandparent’s home on the Tsuut’ina Nation not far from Bragg Creek, with his brother’s girlfriend and an uncle.

At some point the brothers got into an argument and Randen was shot once in the face with a shotgun blast from close range.

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Wojick had argued his client didn’t intend to fire the fatal shot and the killing shouldn’t have been deemed a criminal act.

But jurors accepted submissions from Crown prosecutor Vince Pingitore that Heavenfire’s actions amounted to manslaughter.

‘Firearms and alcohol do not mix well’

In his final argument, Pingitore said jurors didn’t have to find Rylen intended his brother’s death.

“You may conclude that the accused intentionally shot Randen Heavenfire, but that is not something that you have to decide in this trial,” he said.

But Pingitore told the jury that they should find the accused‘s severe intoxication, along with his careless use of the loaded shotgun he’d taken into the woods while drinking, amounted to manslaughter.

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“What you will distill from the evidence that you’ve heard in this case is one straightforward and clear conclusion, and that is that firearms and alcohol do not mix well,” he said.

“I will ask you to consider how a reasonable person in the circumstances of the accused would have handled a firearm on this day,” Pingitore said.

by Stefany Valderrama February 22nd 2023, 2:08 AM PST

https://cbs12.com/news/local/alligator-gator-trapping-florida-fish-wildlife-conservation-commission-trapper-neil-sanders-palm-beach-county-2-22-2023

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CBS12 News reporter Stefany Valderrama spoke with gator trapper, Neil Sanders, who is contracted by the state to strictly remove gators that may be a nuisance or a threat. (CREDIT: Neil Sanders)

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (CBS12) — In light of a Fort Pierce woman losing her life in an alligator attack, CBS12 News wanted to find out what you should do if there’s an alligator living near your home or business.

CBS12 News reporter Stefany Valderrama spoke with gator trapper Neil Sanders, who is contracted by the state to strictly remove gators that may be a nuisance or a threat.

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Sanders has been working as a contractor for Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission for just over 4 years. He tells CBS12 News he caught roughly 130 gators last year and released them into other areas of the state that are better suited for the large reptiles.

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See also: Authorities identify 85-year-old woman killed in alligator attack in Fort Pierce

According to Sanders, any homeowner or business owner in Florida can report a gator on or near their property to the state’s nuisance hotline. It’s a free service and you just have to call 1-866-FWC-GATOR (1-866-392-4286).

After you call, FWC will call in their gator trappers.

Sanders tells CBS12 News there are less than half a dozen trappers in Palm Beach County, including himself.

The trappers will come out to your property and assess the situation after they obtain the right permits from the state, but even they have limitations.

“For example, if you live in the equestrian side [near Wellington], and you have a big canal in your backyard, we are only allowed to go 100 feet from your property line,” Sanders explained. “If that alligator is 200 feet, or even 110 feet away, we have to put our hands up and say sorry he’s not a threat to you right now.”

Sanders tells CBS12 News the permits are good for 45 days, so if the gator moves closer to your property, the trappers will return and will keep coming back until they can safely trap and remove the gator.