Latest news with #AngelaRasmussen
CBC
28-02-2025
- Health
- CBC
U of S expert concerned about next flu season with U.S. opting out of World Health Organization
The United States is no longer submitting its data on flu cases to the World Health Organization after President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Jan. 20. Scientist Angela Rasmussen says it is important to have American data because it is the most populous country in North America and where the majority of flu spread happens. The World Health Organization decides which strains are included in the seasonal flu virus for the Northern Hemisphere.
The Guardian
24-02-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
Two people in US hospitalized with bird flu, CDC reports
Two people, in Wyoming and Ohio, have been hospitalized with H5N1 bird flu, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in a routine flu update on Friday. The person from Wyoming is still in hospital, while the Ohio patient has been released, according to the report. Both patients experienced 'respiratory and non-respiratory symptoms', the report said, without detailing those symptoms. 'This shows that H5N1 can be very severe and we should not assume that it will always be mild,' said Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization at the University of Saskatchewan. The news comes amid one of the worst seasonal flu outbreaks in 15 years – raising the potential for the emergence of a more dangerous virus that combines bird flu and seasonal flu in a process called reassortment. 'I am very worried about H5N1 in patients that are being treated in hospitals where there are also many seasonal flu patients because this creates opportunities for reassortment, which could potentially produce a pandemic-capable H5N1,' Rasmussen said. These are the first human H5 cases detected in Wyoming and Ohio. An 'older' woman from Platte county, Wyoming, was hospitalized in another state, according to a statement from the Wyoming department of health. She 'has health conditions that can make people more vulnerable to illness', the statement says. The woman was exposed to poultry in a backyard flock that tested positive for H5N1, the CDC report said, adding that she remained hospitalized at the time of the report. A man in Mercer county, Ohio, was infected while depopulating, or killing, H5N1-positive poultry at a commercial facility, according to a statement from the Ohio department of health. The man has been discharged from the hospital 'and is now recovering at home', the CDC report said. So far, there have been 70 confirmed cases of the highly pathogenic avian influenza in the US since it was first detected in cows last year. There is no evidence of human-to-human transmission at this point. The majority of cases have been among people who have close contact with animals. Previously, a patient in Missouri was hospitalized and tested positive for bird flu after no known exposure. And a man in Louisiana was hospitalized and died after exposure to backyard chickens and wild birds. A 13-year-old girl was also extremely ill and in the hospital for months in British Columbia after no known exposure. The Louisiana and BC cases were both caused by a variant of H5N1 that emerged in the fall and has quickly become dominant in birds – and has now spilled over, separately, into dairy cows in Nevada and Arizona. The new spillovers come as the Trump administration weighs a strategy that wouldn't seek to contain outbreaks in poultry through depopulation. The new head of health agencies, Robert F Kennedy Jr, has reportedly stopped a seasonal flu vaccine campaign. A scheduled meeting of the CDC's independent vaccines committee has also been postponed. A new study, published by the CDC's Emerging Infectious Diseases journal, offers some insight into why some cases may not be as severe as others. Researchers infected ferrets with H1N1 and then, three months later, infected them with H5N1 or H7N9, a low-pathogenicity variant. H1N1 was the swine flu responsible for the 2009-10 epidemic. It never went away – in fact, it's one of two seasonal variants behind this year's flu season. The ferrets with recent H1N1 antibodies were able to neutralize H5N1 more quickly than H7N9, indicating some protectiveness from the previous infection. Another new study in the same journal found that ferrets first infected with H1N1 had less severe disease from H5N1 – suggesting that some humans may experience the same, the authors wrote. 'This is evidence that prior H1N1 infection or vaccination may provide some level of cross-protection via anti-N1 immunity,' Rasmussen said. But it's not clear to what degree that protection might help people. 'We shouldn't interpret this to mean protection will be absolute in the human population,' Rasmussen said.
Yahoo
06-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Second type of bird flu found in US dairy cows
Dairy cattle in Nevada have been infected with a new type of bird flu that's different from the version that has spread in U.S. herds since last year, Agriculture Department officials said Wednesday. The detection indicates that distinct forms of the virus known as Type A H5N1 have spilled over from wild birds into cattle at least twice. Experts said it raises new questions about wider spread and the difficulty of controlling infections in animals and the people who work closely with them. 'I always thought one bird-to-cow transmission was a very rare event. Seems that may not be the case,' said Richard Webby, an influenza expert at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. A version of the H5N1 bird flu virus known as B3.13 was confirmed in March after being introduced to cattle in late 2023, scientists said. It has infected more than 950 herds in 16 states. The new version, known as D1.1, was confirmed in Nevada cattle on Friday, according to USDA. It was detected in milk collected as part of a surveillance program launched in December. 'Now we know why it's really important to test and continue testing,' said Angela Rasmussen, a virus expert at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada, who helped identify the first spillover. The D1.1 version of the virus was the type linked to the first U.S. death tied to bird flu and a severe illness in Canada. A person in Louisiana died in January after developing severe respiratory symptoms following contact with wild and backyard birds. In British Columbia, a teen girl was hospitalized for months with a virus traced to poultry. At least 67 people in the U.S. have been infected with bird flu, mostly those who work closely with dairy or cattle, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. USDA officials said they would post genetic sequences and other information about the new form of the virus to a public repository later this week. Scientists said that would be key to understanding whether the spillover was a recent event or whether the virus has been circulating, perhaps widely, for longer. 'If this turns out to have been something that crossed into cattle a couple months ago, a couple months is a long time not to detect it,' said Michael Worobey, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Arizona who has studied the H5N1 virus in cattle. He added that it's important for federal officials to share promptly information about a virus that has the potential to trigger a pandemic that could 'make COVID seem like a walk in the park.' 'It's a vital part of national security, global security, the well-being of people, of animals and of businesses in the U.S.,' Worobey added. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Al Arabiya
06-02-2025
- Health
- Al Arabiya
Second type of bird flu detected in US dairy cows
Dairy cattle in Nevada have been infected with a new type of bird flu that's different from the version that has spread in US herds since last year, Agriculture Department officials said Wednesday. The detection indicates that distinct forms of the virus known as Type A H5N1 have spilled over from wild birds into cattle at least twice. Experts said it raises new questions about wider spread and the difficulty of controlling infections in animals and the people who work closely with them. 'I always thought one bird-to-cow transmission was a very rare event. Seems that may not be the case,' said Richard Webby, an influenza expert at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. A version of the H5N1 bird flu virus known as B3.13 was confirmed in March after being introduced to cattle in late 2023, scientists said. It has infected more than 950 herds in 16 states. The new version, known as D1.1, was confirmed in Nevada cattle on Friday, according to USDA. It was detected in milk collected as part of a surveillance program launched in December. 'Now we know why it's really important to test and continue testing,' said Angela Rasmussen, a virus expert at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada, who helped identify the first spillover. The D1.1 version of the virus was the type linked to the first US death tied to bird flu and a severe illness in Canada. A person in Louisiana died in January after developing severe respiratory symptoms following contact with wild and backyard birds. In British Columbia, a teenage girl was hospitalized for months with a virus traced to poultry. At least 67 people in the US have been infected with bird flu – mostly those who work closely with dairy or cattle – according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. USDA officials said they would post genetic sequences and other information about the new form of the virus to a public repository later this week. Scientists said that would be key to understanding whether the spillover was a recent event or whether the virus has been circulating, perhaps widely, for longer. 'If this turns out to have been something that crossed into cattle a couple months ago, a couple months is a long time not to detect it,' said Michael Worobey, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Arizona who has studied the H5N1 virus in cattle. He added that it's important for federal officials to share promptly information about a virus that has the potential to trigger a pandemic that 'could make COVID seem like a walk in the park.' 'It's a vital part of national security, global security, the well-being of people, of animals and of businesses in the US,' Worobey added.
Boston Globe
06-02-2025
- Health
- Boston Globe
Second type of bird flu detected in US dairy cows
A version of the H5N1 bird flu virus known as B3.13 was confirmed in March after being introduced to cattle in late 2023, scientists said. It has infected more than 950 herds in 16 states. The new version, known as D1.1, was confirmed in Nevada cattle on Friday, according to USDA. It was detected in milk collected as part of a surveillance program launched in December. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Enter Email Sign Up 'Now we know why it's really important to test and continue testing,' said Angela Rasmussen, a virus expert at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada, who helped identify the first spillover. Advertisement The D1.1 version of the virus was the type linked to the first U.S. death tied to bird flu and a severe illness in Canada. A person in Louisiana died in January after developing severe respiratory symptoms following contact with wild and backyard birds. In British Columbia, a teen girl was hospitalized for months with a virus traced to poultry. At least 67 people in the U.S. have been infected with bird flu, mostly those who work closely with dairy or cattle, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. USDA officials said they would post genetic sequences and other information about the new form of the virus to a public repository later this week. Scientists said that would be key to understanding whether the spillover was a recent event or whether the virus has been circulating, perhaps widely, for longer. 'If this turns out to have been something that crossed into cattle a couple months ago, a couple months is a long time not to detect it,' said Michael Worobey, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Arizona who has studied the H5N1 virus in cattle. Advertisement He added that it's important for federal officials to share promptly information about a virus that has the potential to trigger a pandemic that could 'make COVID seem like a walk in the park.' 'It's a vital part of national security, global security, the well-being of people, of animals and of businesses in the U.S.,' Worobey added.
