6 hours ago

By Chelsea Pinkham

Lead Image Source : pipicato/Shutterstock

Support OneGreenPlanet

Being publicly-funded gives us a greater chance to continue providing you with high quality content. Please support us!  Support Us

The first cases of H5N8 bird flu have been detected in humans, and although there is no known evidence of transmission person-to-person, it serves as an unnerving reminder of disease outbreaks on crowded, unsanitary factory farms. This strain of bird flu is extremely contagious and lethal to birds, but the seven affected human patients in Russia have been reported as asymptomatic. The cases all occurred in farmworkers exposed to birds on the job.https://www.youtube.com/embed/6bv_LHc8Ujk?version=3&rel=1&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&fs=1&hl=en-US&autohide=2&wmode=transparent

Source: ThePrint/YouTubeAdvertisement

Anna Popova, head of Russia’s Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing, stated that the early warning “gives us all, the entire world, time to prepare for possible mutations and react in an adequate and timely fashion.”

Disease outbreaks on modern farms are not uncommon, as genetically similar animals kept in close quarters are likely to spread illness fast. Unsanitary conditions can cause animals to fall into respiratory distress easily, and dead animals can serve as vectors for an array of illnesses. Drug-resistant bacteria known as “superbugs” have become an increasingly worrisome issue on farms across the world, as animals living in subpar conditions often require antibiotics to stay alive.

This in-depth 2016 Scientific American article explains why crowded modern farms are host to a plethora of contagious ailments, from MRSA to enterococci, a group of bacteria known to cause over 20,000 infections in humans annually. As the article states, in 2014 pharmaceutical companies sold nearly 21 million pounds of medically important antibiotics for use in animals raised for food, over three times the amount sold for use in humans.

“Resistant bacteria that food animals carry can get into a variety of foods,” states the Center for Disease Control on an informational webpage about antibiotic use in farmed animals. “Meat and poultry can become contaminated when the animals are slaughtered and processed. Fruits and vegetables can become contaminated when resistant bacteria from animal feces (poop) spreads to them through the environment, such as through irrigation water or fertilizers…illnesses that were once easily treatable with antibiotics are becoming more difficult to cure and more expensive to treat.” Advertisement

In 2017 the World Health Organization issued a statement advising that commercial farming operations stop routinely administering antibiotics to healthy animals, citing an increasing threat to human health. “Over-use and misuse of antibiotics in animals and humans is contributing to the rising threat of antibiotic resistance,” the statement reads. “Some types of bacteria that cause serious infections in humans have already developed resistance to most or all of the available treatments, and there are very few promising options in the research pipeline.”

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has been a sobering reality check to the risk of disease outbreaks and serves as a call to action for humanity. As long as animals exist on crowded and unsanitary factory farms, antibiotic resistance and disease spread will remain a dire public health risk. The evidence is clear; raising animals for food by the masses is deeply detrimental to both animal welfare and human health, and only a drastic food system reform can bring about change.Advertisement

Sign this petition to encourage Congress and the Senate to pass the Preventing Future Pandemics Act!Urge Congress and the Senate to Pass the Preventing Future Pandemics Act

Edited By: Gravitas desk WIONNew Delhi, India Published: Jan 14, 2021, 10.11 PM(IST)

• https://www.wionews.com/world/the-next-pandemic-bird-flu-spreads-like-wildfire-across-asia-356758?fbclid=IwAR3neZUBP1kHEk42wxCOpdeXhaijUqUKlehOToWIymVIfdNtIllzOdEGuPk

Representative Image. Photograph:( Others )FOLLOW US

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Compulsory flu vaccination for poultry has protected China for now but the virus has still killed wild swans in the country.

Bird flu cases are growing at an alarming rate in Asia. The continent’s poultry farmers are facing an unprecedented situation. Birds are being culled and people are staying away from poultry meat. 

It is the worst such outbreak in the region’s history. From Japan to India, the deadly virus is affecting birds across farms. Millions of chickens, ducks and turkeys have been culled. Poultry prices have dropped to an all-time low.

And Asia’s farmers are staring at an unprecedented crisis. While bird flu is common in Asia during this time mostly due to migratory patterns. New strains of the virus have become more lethal. This makes countries on the flight path especially vulnerable.

In India, at least 10 states have reported cases of bird flu. Over 850 cases of bird deaths have been reported in the national capital. In Rajasthan– over 4,000 birds died because of the flu. The Uttar Pradesh government has banned poultry from other states till January 24.

In Kerala, tens of thousands of birds were culled last week. Maharashtra has detected avian influenza in crows as well. Chicken prices in India fell almost a third last week. Wary customers have steered clear of meat.

Not just India, Japan too is dealing with its worst outbreak. A quarter of all prefectures are affected. More than 3 million birds have been culled so far. South Korea also dealt with an outbreak at a duck farm. With the virus strain being similar to the one in Japan.

Compulsory flu vaccination for poultry has protected China for now but the virus has still killed wild swans in the country.

Countries like Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia have been spared for now. But continue to face risks due to the movement of goods. What makes the virus even more dangerous is its contagious nature. Infected birds have to be culled to contain the spread. But amid all this- the biggest question is can we consume poultry meat?

According to governments, there is nothing to be worried about. The World Health Organisation says it is safe. That you will be safe if you eat well-cooked meat. However, health experts are not convinced. They are concerned about a species jump. This is when a virus strain moves from one species to another. In this instance — it could be from birds to human beings.

It has happened once in 1997. While human to human transmission has not been detected yet it cannot be ruled out.

The last time, a virus jumped species tt led to the coronavirus pandemic.

Laura Kearns15^th Dec, 2020

PEOPLE are being advised not to touch sick or dead birds after suspected cases of bird flu in Warwickshire.

Cases of avian influenza were recently confirmed in swans in Evesham, and in Stratford it was reported the bodies of two swans retrieved from River Avon for analysis, had died of the condition.

Cases have also been reported across the country and closer to home have been confirmed in Herefordshire and are understood to be in Worcester and Shropshire.

Public Health England and local council bosses are urging residents and members of wildlife organisations not to touch sick or dead wild birds.

With infection numbers on the rise, Defra has declared the country as an Avian Influenza Prevention Zone to prevent the disease spreading to poultry and captive birds. This means it is a legal requirement for all bird keepers to follow strict biosecurity measures and for all poultry and captive birds to be housed.

The strain can spread to other birds, but there have been no human cases of infection reported.

While the risk to human health is considered very low, health bosses say it is vital people do not touch sick live birds or bird carcasses.

Public health England regional disease control spokesman Dr James Chipwete said: “During the last week there have been confirmed cases of avian influenza in swans in Evesham, and we are receiving an increasing number of reports of sick and dead swans in Worcester. We are awaiting results of investigations currently being undertaken.

“We know that people are concerned for the welfare of the swans, especially ensuring they are fed in these colder months, however it is important that people avoid contact with these sick or dead birds. Even though no cases of human infection have been associated with this strain of avian flu, as a precaution, anyone who was not wearing appropriate PPE while in contact with the droppings or birds in an area where the infection has been confirmed, will require close monitoring and a course of antiviral medication for 10 days from last contact with infected birds.

“We have seen a number of avian flu cases in poultry and captive birds across the country – with confirmed cases in Herefordshire last month, and suspected cases now in Warwickshire.

“People must avoid touching potentially infected birds at all costs, and if you do see any sick or dead birds by waterways or on your private land, please leave them and call the Defra helpline. In areas where the infection has been confirmed, anyone who has been in contact with sick or dead birds or their droppings, while not wearing the correct PPE, should make sure any footwear is properly cleaned and thoroughly wash their hands in soap and water. They should then notify Public Health England’s Health Protection Team to arrange for antiviral medication and active surveillance of their condition. If someone handled infected birds while wearing adequate PPE, they must still undergo surveillance.”

Call Defra on 03459 335577 or ring 0344 225 3560 to speak to Public Health England’s Health Protection Team.

DEC 11, 2020

DAVE ROOS

https://www.history.com/news/1918-flu-pandemic-never-ended?fbclid=IwAR1y33ohHyd63g5VXPkoSH5mvh5gVbpiyQHX5lrQD26dDJ36k0Un9FacH6M

An unthinkable 50 to 100 million people worldwide died from the 1918-1919 flu pandemic commonly known as the “Spanish Flu.” It was the deadliest global pandemic since the Black Death, and rare among flu viruses for striking down the young and healthy, often within days of exhibiting the first symptoms. In the United States, the 1918 flu pandemic lowered the average life expectancy by 12 years.

What’s even more remarkable about the 1918 flu, say infectious disease experts, is that it never really went away. After infecting an estimated 500 million people worldwide in 1918 and 1919 (a third of the global population), the H1N1 strain that caused the Spanish flu receded into the background and stuck around as the regular seasonal flu.

But every so often, direct descendants of the 1918 flu combined with bird flu or swine flu to create powerful new pandemic strains, which is exactly what happened in 1957, 1968 and 2009. Those later flu outbreaks, all created in part by the 1918 virus, claimed millions of additional lives, earning the 1918 flu the odious title of “the mother of all pandemics.”

LISTEN: HISTORY This Week: The Deadliest Pandemic in Modern History

Deadly Virus Struck in Three Waves

https://www.history.com/player/1438417475961?autoplay=true

WATCH: The 1918 Flu Was Deadlier Than WWI

Jeffrey Taubenberger was part of the pioneering scientific team that first isolated and sequenced the genome of the 1918 flu virus in the late 1990s. The painstaking process involved extracting viral RNA from autopsied lung samples taken from American soldiers who died from the 1918 flu, plus one diseased lung preserved in the Alaskan permafrost for nearly 100 years.https://2bff80fb56695aa3a1845bcbabb4ac36.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-37/html/container.html

Now chief of the Viral Pathogenesis and Evolution Section at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Taubenberger explains that genetic analyses of the 1918 flu indicate that it started as an avian flu and represented a completely new viral strain when it made the leap to humans shortly before 1918. Lab tests of the reconstructed 1918 virus show that in its original form, the virus’s novel encoded proteins made it 100 times more lethal in mice than today’s seasonal flu.

The 1918 pandemic struck in three distinct waves over a 12-month period. It first appeared in the spring of 1918 in North America and Europe largely in the trenches of World War I, then reemerged in its deadliest form in the fall of 1918, killing tens of millions of people worldwide from September through November. The final wave swept across Australia, the United States and Europe in the late winter and spring of 1919.

But did the 1918 flu simply “go away” after that third wave? Absolutely not, says Taubenberger.

READ MORE: Why the Second Wave of the 1918 ‘Spanish Flu’ Was So Deadly

Virus Mutates Into Seasonal Flu

Since the whole world had been exposed to the virus, and had therefore developed natural immunity against it, the 1918 strain began to mutate and evolve in a process called “antigenic drift.” Slightly altered versions of the 1918 flu reemerged in the winters of 1919-1920 and 1920-1921, but they were far less deadly and nearly indistinguishable from the seasonal flu.

“The 1918 flu definitely lost its real virulence by the early 1920s,” says Taubenberger.

But what’s truly incredible, according to genetic analyses, is that the same novel strain of flu first introduced in 1918 appears to be the direct ancestor of every seasonal and pandemic flu we’ve had over the past century.

“You can still find the genetic traces of the 1918 virus in the seasonal flus that circulate today,” says Taubenberger. “Every single human infection with influenza A in the past 102 years is derived from that one introduction of the 1918 flu.”

Welcome to the Pandemic Era

The 1918 flu pandemic was by far the deadliest flu outbreak of the 20th and 21st centuries to date, but it wasn’t the only one to qualify as a pandemic. Even with the advent of the first seasonal flu vaccines after World War II, the flu virus has proven capable of some unexpected and deadly genetic tricks.

In a normal flu season, vaccine scientists can track the most active viral strains and produce a vaccine that protects against changes in the human flu virus from year to year. But every so often, viral genes from the animal kingdom enter the mix.

9GALLERY9 IMAGES

PHOTOS: Innovative Ways People Tried to Protect Themselves From the Flu

“If one animal is infected with two different influenza viruses at the same time,” says Taubenberger, “maybe one virus from a bird and another from a human, those genes can mix and match to create a brand new virus that never existed before.”

That’s what happened in 1957 when the 1918 flu, which is an H1N1 virus, swapped genes with another bird flu giving us the H2N2 pandemic, which claimed a million lives worldwide. It happened again in 1968 with the creation of the so-called “Hong Kong Flu,” an H3N2 virus that killed another million people.

The so-called “Swine Flu” pandemic of 2009 has an even deeper backstory. When humans became infected with the 1918 pandemic flu, which was originally a bird flu, we also passed it on to pigs.

“One branch of the 1918 flu permanently adapted to pigs and became swine influenza that was seen in pigs in the US every year after 1918 and spread around the world,” says Taubenberger.

READ MORE: 5 Hard-Earned Lessons From Past Pandemics

In 2009, a strain of swine flu swapped genes with both human influenza and avian influenza to create a new variety of H1N1 flu that was “more like 1918 than had been seen in a long time,” says Taubenberger. Around 300,000 people died from the 2009 flu pandemic.

All told, if 50 to 100 million people died in the 1918 and 1919 pandemic, and tens of millions more have died in the ensuing century of seasonal flus and pandemic outbreaks, then all of those deaths can be attributed to the single and accidental emergence in humans of the very successful and stubborn 1918 virus.

“We’re still living in what I would call the ‘1918 pandemic era’ 102 years later” says Taubenberger, “and I don’t know how long it will last.”

READ MORE: See all pandemic coverage here.