Latest news with #RichardWebby
Yahoo
18-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Mexican child infected with H5N1 bird flu dies from respiratory complications
A 3-year-old girl in Mexico died this month after getting infected with H5N1 bird flu, according to a report issued by the World Health Organization this week. Authorities say the strain of bird flu is one that has been circulating in wild birds throughout North America, known as D1.1. It is the same strain implicated in the death of a person in Louisiana earlier this year, and in the case of a 13-year-old Canadian who was placed on life-support for several weeks before recovering. Two others, a person in Wyoming and a poultry worker in Ohio, were also reported to have severe disease after exposure to this strain of the virus. The strain has been detected in dairy herds from Nevada and Arizona. "The case in Mexico is another great reminder of how dangerous H5 viruses can be," said Richard Webby, an infectious disease expert at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn. The D1.1 strain is widespread in the U.S. and Canada, but until this week's WHO report it was unclear how far south the strain had traveled, he said. "It has been a very active virus to date," he said, and "further spread will undoubtedly lead to more infections, both in birds and humans. " He said researchers are now awaiting publication of the genetic sequence, which will provide more information about whether there have been further changes that could make it more severe and/or transmissible. According to the WHO, the young girl's symptoms, which included fever, malaise and vomiting, began on March 7. She was admitted to a hospital in the state of Durango on March 13 due to respiratory failure. She was treated with oseltamivir, an antiviral drug, the following day. On March 16, she transferred to another hospital in the city of Torreón. She died on April 8 from "respiratory complications." The girl did not have any underlying medical conditions, had not received a seasonal influenza vaccination, and had no history of travel, according to the WHO report. The source of the child's infection remains under investigation. According to the report, 91 people were identified as contacts of the toddler, including 21 household contacts, 60 healthcare workers and 10 people from a childcare center. Each of these people was tested and all have tested negative for the virus. Between 2022 and August 2024, there have been 75 reported H5N1 poultry outbreaks across Mexico, although none in Durango. At the end of January 2025, a sick vulture at the Sahuatoba Zoo, in Durango, was diagnosed with the virus. In addition, dozens of wild birds in the state were also reported, including a Canada goose. The virus is still circulating in U.S. dairy herds, poultry, wild birds and wild mammals. Since April 1, there have been five new reports of infected dairy herds from California, 15 in Idaho and one from Arizona, according to the US Department of Agriculture. There have also been dozens of domestic cats infected with the virus, including three recent reports from California's Orange and Alameda counties: two in Orange and one in Alameda. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there have been 70 reported cases of H5N1 bird flu in the U.S. since March 2024, when the virus was first reported in dairy herds. There has been one death, a person older than 65 from Louisiana. Health officials say the risk of H5N1 bird flu to the general public remains low and there has been no indication of person-to-person spread. Most cases have been associated with contact with infected livestock and poultry. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
18-04-2025
- Health
- Los Angeles Times
Mexican child infected with H5N1 bird flu dies from respiratory complications
A 3-year-old girl in Mexico died this month after getting infected with H5N1 bird flu, according to a report issued by the World Health Organization this week. Authorities say the strain of bird flu is one that has been circulating in wild birds throughout North America, known as D1.1. It is the same strain implicated in the death of a person in Louisiana earlier this year, and in the case of a 13-year-old Canadian who was placed on life-support for several weeks before recovering. Two others, a person in Wyoming and a poultry worker in Ohio, were also reported to have severe disease after exposure to this strain of the virus. The strain has been detected in dairy herds from Nevada and Arizona. 'The case in Mexico is another great reminder of how dangerous H5 viruses can be,' said Richard Webby, an infectious disease expert at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn. The D1.1 strain is widespread in the U.S. and Canada, but until this week's WHO report it was unclear how far south the strain had traveled, he said. 'It has been a very active virus to date,' he said, and 'further spread will undoubtedly lead to more infections, both in birds and humans. ' He said researchers are now awaiting publication of the genetic sequence, which will provide more information about whether there have been further changes that could make it more severe and/or transmissible. According to the WHO, the young girl's symptoms, which included fever, malaise and vomiting, began on March 7. She was admitted to a hospital in the state of Durango on March 13 due to respiratory failure. She was treated with oseltamivir, an antiviral drug, the following day. On March 16, she transferred to another hospital in the city of Torreón. She died on April 8 from 'respiratory complications.' The girl did not have any underlying medical conditions, had not received a seasonal influenza vaccination, and had no history of travel, according to the WHO report. The source of the child's infection remains under investigation. According to the report, 91 people were identified as contacts of the toddler, including 21 household contacts, 60 healthcare workers and 10 people from a childcare center. Each of these people was tested and all have tested negative for the virus. Between 2022 and August 2024, there have been 75 reported H5N1 poultry outbreaks across Mexico, although none in Durango. At the end of January 2025, a sick vulture at the Sahuatoba Zoo, in Durango, was diagnosed with the virus. In addition, dozens of wild birds in the state were also reported, including a Canada goose. The virus is still circulating in U.S. dairy herds, poultry, wild birds and wild mammals. Since April 1, there have been five new reports of infected dairy herds from California, 15 in Idaho and one from Arizona, according to the US Department of Agriculture. There have also been dozens of domestic cats infected with the virus, including three recent reports from California's Orange and Alameda counties: two in Orange and one in Alameda. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there have been 70 reported cases of H5N1 bird flu in the U.S. since March 2024, when the virus was first reported in dairy herds. There has been one death, a person older than 65 from Louisiana. Health officials say the risk of H5N1 bird flu to the general public remains low and there has been no indication of person-to-person spread. Most cases have been associated with contact with infected livestock and poultry.
Yahoo
19-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
New strain of bird flu wipes out Mississpi poultry farm; human flu may offer immunity
A new strain of a highly pathogenic bird flu known as H7N9 has surfaced at a poultry farm in Mississippi where chickens are raised for breeding. The finding of the new strain came as researchers separately reported a potentially positive development: Exposure to human seasonal flu may confer some immunity to H5N1 bird flu. The new strain found in Noxubee County, Miss., was confirmed March 12 and all of the roughly 46,000 birds either died or were euthanized after the infection spread, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal Plant Health Inspection Service and Mississippi's Board of Animal Health. None of the birds entered the food supply. Authorities didn't say how the birds were infected, although federal wildlife agents had been identifying low-pathogenic versions of the H7N9 virus for several years in wild birds. It is possible that the version found in the chickens is circulating in wild birds, but most researchers think it probably acquired it's deadly attributes once it got into the Noxubee chicken operation. And if that's the case, "my money is on a one-and-done, perhaps with some local spread," said Richard Webby, an infectious disease expert at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn. Webby said most bird flu outbreaks follow that pattern: A low-pathogenic version is introduced to commercial poultry, and it becomes highly pathogenic once inside. The introduction of H5N1 — the bird flu virus that's been infecting dairy cows, commercial poultry, pet cats, wild animals and wild birds since March 2024 — into poultry and livestock populations was a notable exception to this trend: It was already circulating among wild birds and animals as a highly pathogenic virus. John Korslund, a veterinarian and former USDA researcher, agreed with Webby and noted that the operation housed breeder broilers: Chickens that are grown and maintained for breeding purposes, not for their meat. This is significant because breeders live for months, if not years. If a low-pathogenic virus "happens to get into a broiler meat flock, the birds don't get sick and they go onto slaughter," he said. But when a breeder flock picks up that virus, "the virus can replicate for weeks ... this may well be what happened in Mississippi." However, according to USDA rules, routine and periodic testing of breeder birds for low-pathogenic avian influenzas is required. In 2017, an outbreak of H7N9 occurred along the Mississippi flyway, probably starting in late February, but reported only in March. A summary report of the outbreak suggested the virus was introduced via wild birds. As suspected in this case, it is believed it started as "low path" and only became "high path" once it got into the commercial operation. Nevertheless, experts said, if they are wrong and a highly pathogenic virus is circulating in wild birds, it'll start popping up in other states and sites too. "Time will tell how nasty it gets this time," Korslund said. The key to preventing these kinds of outbreaks — or at least getting ahead of them — is wildlife surveillance, the experts said. Agencies such as the USDA, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Geological Survey's Wildlife Health Center, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have divisions that are tasked with sampling wild birds and other animals for infectious diseases. The information they gather is then used by agriculture and public health officials to determine where and when to bolster biosecurity, or to keep a lookout. Without that information, said Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at the University of Saskatchewan's Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization in Canada."we're flying blind." In the positive news that came out this week, a team of international researchers found that ferrets exposed to a common seasonal human flu — H1N1 — before being exposed to H5N1, acquire some immunity from the seasonal flu. Ferrets that weren't exposed to the seasonal flu before being infected with H5N1 had high levels of the virus in their respiratory tissues, as well as detectable virus in their hearts, spleen, liver and intestines. In contrast, those that had been exposed to the seasonal flu beforehand had virus only in the respiratory tract — and at pretty low levels. "The biggest take home message of our data is that prior human seasonal virus infection can provide some level of protection against the lethality of bird flu," said Seema Lakdawala, a microbiologist at Emory University in Atlanta and one of the study's researchers. Webby, the St. Jude researcher, said the work supports other research that has looked at the potential protectiveness of prior exposure to flu viruses. "It is for sure playing some role in modulating H5N1 disease in humans," he said, but was unlikely the only factor. "After all, many people have severe seasonal H1N1 infections each year despite lots of immunity to the virus from previous H1N1 exposures." But the finding may help explain why the virus recently has been associated with generally mild disease in the people who have been infected. Seventy people in the U.S. have been infected since March 2024, and one person has died. (Four people, including the Louisiana patient who died, have been hospitalized). Before last year, the virus was thought to have killed roughly 50% of those infected. Rasmussen said the worry now is that if H5N1 mutates to become transmissible between people, it'll be young children as well as the old and compromised who are likely to be most affected. Children younger than 5 are less likely to have been exposed to seasonal human influenza viruses than school-aged children and adults — potentially making them more susceptible to the harms of a virus such as H5N1. In addition, she said, the bird flu viruses circulating in birds and livestock "as far as we know, can't transmit easily between people. But, if there's reassortment, then who knows? We don't know what kind of residual population-level immunity we would have" from a virus such as that. How seasonal flu vaccines could affect this protection isn't clear. "Seasonal vaccines will not provide the same diversity of immune response as natural infection and unlikely to provide the same level of protection," said Lakdawala, who is testing this issue in the lab. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
19-03-2025
- Health
- Los Angeles Times
New strain of bird flu wipes out Mississpi poultry farm; human flu may offer immunity
A new strain of a highly pathogenic bird flu known as H7N9 has surfaced at a poultry farm in Mississippi where chickens are raised for breeding. The finding of the new strain came as researchers separately reported a potentially positive development: Exposure to human seasonal flu may confer some immunity to H5N1 bird flu. The new strain found in Noxubee County, Miss., was confirmed March 12 and all of the roughly 46,000 birds either died or were euthanized after the infection spread, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal Plant Health Inspection Service and Mississippi's Board of Animal Health. None of the birds entered the food supply. Authorities didn't say how the birds were infected, although federal wildlife agents had been identifying low-pathogenic versions of the H7N9 virus for several years in wild birds. It is possible that the version found in the chickens is circulating in wild birds, but most researchers think it probably acquired it's deadly attributes once it got into the Noxubee chicken operation. And if that's the case, 'my money is on a one-and-done, perhaps with some local spread,' said Richard Webby, an infectious disease expert at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn. Webby said most bird flu outbreaks follow that pattern: A low-pathogenic version is introduced to commercial poultry, and it becomes highly pathogenic once inside. The introduction of H5N1 — the bird flu virus that's been infecting dairy cows, commercial poultry, pet cats, wild animals and wild birds since March 2024 — into poultry and livestock populations was a notable exception to this trend: It was already circulating among wild birds and animals as a highly pathogenic virus. John Korslund, a veterinarian and former USDA researcher, agreed with Webby and noted that the operation housed breeder broilers: Chickens that are grown and maintained for breeding purposes, not for their meat. This is significant because breeders live for months, if not years. If a low-pathogenic virus 'happens to get into a broiler meat flock, the birds don't get sick and they go onto slaughter,' he said. But when a breeder flock picks up that virus, 'the virus can replicate for weeks ... this may well be what happened in Mississippi.' However, according to USDA rules, routine and periodic testing of breeder birds for low-pathogenic avian influenzas is required. In 2017, an outbreak of H7N9 occurred along the Mississippi flyway, probably starting in late February, but reported only in March. A summary report of the outbreak suggested the virus was introduced via wild birds. As suspected in this case, it is believed it started as 'low path' and only became 'high path' once it got into the commercial operation. Nevertheless, experts said, if they are wrong and a highly pathogenic virus is circulating in wild birds, it'll start popping up in other states and sites too. 'Time will tell how nasty it gets this time,' Korslund said. The key to preventing these kinds of outbreaks — or at least getting ahead of them — is wildlife surveillance, the experts said. Agencies such as the USDA, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Geological Survey's Wildlife Health Center, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have divisions that are tasked with sampling wild birds and other animals for infectious diseases. The information they gather is then used by agriculture and public health officials to determine where and when to bolster biosecurity, or to keep a lookout. Without that information, said Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at the University of Saskatchewan's Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization in Canada.'we're flying blind.' In the positive news that came out this week, a team of international researchers found that ferrets exposed to a common seasonal human flu — H1N1 — before being exposed to H5N1, acquire some immunity from the seasonal flu. Ferrets that weren't exposed to the seasonal flu before being infected with H5N1 had high levels of the virus in their respiratory tissues, as well as detectable virus in their hearts, spleen, liver and intestines. In contrast, those that had been exposed to the seasonal flu beforehand had virus only in the respiratory tract — and at pretty low levels. 'The biggest take home message of our data is that prior human seasonal virus infection can provide some level of protection against the lethality of bird flu,' said Seema Lakdawala, a microbiologist at Emory University in Atlanta and one of the study's researchers. Webby, the St. Jude researcher, said the work supports other research that has looked at the potential protectiveness of prior exposure to flu viruses. 'It is for sure playing some role in modulating H5N1 disease in humans,' he said, but was unlikely the only factor. 'After all, many people have severe seasonal H1N1 infections each year despite lots of immunity to the virus from previous H1N1 exposures.' But the finding may help explain why the virus recently has been associated with generally mild disease in the people who have been infected. Seventy people in the U.S. have been infected since March 2024, and one person has died. (Four people, including the Louisiana patient who died, have been hospitalized). Before last year, the virus was thought to have killed roughly 50% of those infected. Rasmussen said the worry now is that if H5N1 mutates to become transmissible between people, it'll be young children as well as the old and compromised who are likely to be most affected. Children younger than 5 are less likely to have been exposed to seasonal human influenza viruses than school-aged children and adults — potentially making them more susceptible to the harms of a virus such as H5N1. In addition, she said, the bird flu viruses circulating in birds and livestock 'as far as we know, can't transmit easily between people. But, if there's reassortment, then who knows? We don't know what kind of residual population-level immunity we would have' from a virus such as that. How seasonal flu vaccines could affect this protection isn't clear. 'Seasonal vaccines will not provide the same diversity of immune response as natural infection and unlikely to provide the same level of protection,' said Lakdawala, who is testing this issue in the lab.
Yahoo
19-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Bird flu latest updates: Wyoming confirms state's 1st human case of bird flu, bringing total to 70 across 13 states
Bird flu is spreading across the United States, causing egg shortages and soaring prices at supermarkets and restaurants — however, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that the current public health risk is low. On Friday, the Wyoming Department of Health confirmed the state's first human case of H5N1 bird flu. That case is the third confirmed hospitalization related to the virus in the U.S. Over the weekend, Ohio's health department confirmed to CBS News that a farmer in the state sickened with bird flu was also hospitalized and has since been released, making it the fourth hospitalization in the U.S. See for yourself — The Yodel is the go-to source for daily news, entertainment and feel-good stories. By signing up, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy. The CDC's website currently indicates there are 68 confirmed human cases of bird flu across 11 states, with one death in Louisiana associated with the H5N1 infection. As of Feb. 18, Wyoming's and Ohio's human cases bring the total to 70 confirmed human cases of bird flu across 13 states. In recent months, cases of avian influenza have increased in animals, including poultry, wild birds, dairy cows and even pet cats. Nearly 23 million birds were affected by the virus in January, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Since February 2022, over 138 million birds have been infected by H5N1. As of Feb. 18, 70 cases of bird flu detected in humans have been confirmed across 13 U.S. states due to exposure from infected commercial poultry, dairy cattle herds or other animals. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the current public health risk of bird flu is low. The states where human cases of bird flu have thus far been identified are Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Colorado, Texas, Louisiana, Iowa, Missouri, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio and Wyoming. Health experts believe the primary way that H5N1 bird flu has spread onto farms is through the feces of wild birds. But a 2024 investigation in the Czech Republic of chickens on a highly secure, state-of-the-art farm has concluded that the virus could have been spread there by the wind. 'The whole idea of potentially being sort of wind-driven has been out there for a while,' Dr. Richard Webby, who directs the World Health Organization's Collaborating Center for Studies on the Ecology of Influenza in Animals, told CNN. Webby added that the spread of the virus due to wind doesn't necessarily make bird flu a bigger threat to humans. While it takes just a small amount of virus to infect a bird, it takes a more substantial amount to infect humans, he said. Yes. Since last summer, U.S. public health agencies have been preparing millions of doses of a vaccine for H5N1 bird flu. By this spring, about 10 million doses will be available, or enough to vaccinate 5 million people, a spokesperson at the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response told NBC News. The reason federal officials haven't authorized a bird flu vaccine for humans at this time is thatillnesses have been relatively mild and don't require hospitalization. Currently, there's no human-to-human transmission evidence and the virus's risk to the general public is low, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Should a bird flu vaccine be needed for humans, the national stockpile should be sufficient for immunizing first responders and at-risk populations. The American Veterinary Medical Association is encouraging owners of backyard flocks or pet birds to take precautions in areas where there are currently bird flu outbreaks. Make sure backyard bird areas are fully enclosed, away from wild birds and their feces. Pet birds should be brought indoors. Before and after handling birds, wash and sanitize your hands. Keep feed, drinking water, equipment and other supplies used to care for backyard flocks away from wild birds or rodents. Avoid visits to places where other birds are kept. Visitors should be kept away from the flock or pet bird. Know the signs and symptoms of bird flu in your backyard flock, provided here. Report any suspected infections to your veterinarian or state animal health official. The first human case of bird flu in Wyoming was confirmed on Friday, the state's Department of Health said in a statement. State health officer Dr. Alexia Harrist said an older woman was hospitalized with the virus. She added the woman has health conditions that make her more vulnerable to illness and noted she was "likely exposed to the virus through direct contact with an infected poultry flock at her home." The state's health department noted the Wyoming case was the third instance of hospitalization linked to bird flu in the United States. 'We want to remind people there has been no documented human-to-human virus transmission of this virus in the United States so far,' Harrist said, adding that bird flu does not require a high level of concern among Wyoming residents. The demand for vegan egg substitutes is on the rise, as chicken egg prices spike amid a nationwide bird flu outbreak. Vegan egg companies like Eat Just saw January sales increase five times compared with last year. The company, which makes Just Egg branded products, uses mung beans and canola oil in its liquid-form egg substitute. The sales of those products have expanded at retailers. "Just Egg sales have accelerated, with one major chain, which the company declined to name, posting weekly gains on a year-over-year basis as high as 70%," Bloomberg reported. Egg prices have risen 53% over the last year, including a 15% increase in January alone. But the cost of chicken meat has barely risen 1% since this time last year, according to recent Consumer Price Index data. The chickens specifically used for laying eggs are separate from other chickens raised for meat, also known as "broilers." Broiler chickens can also get sick with the bird flu but have been less susceptible to the current outbreak because they have a shorter life span and are usually slaughtered within two months. Less time on a farm means there's less opportunity for broilers to get infected. Meanwhile, egg-laying hens take longer to mature and start producing eggs after four or five months. They have been hit much harder than broilers by the bird flu, making up 75% of the birds affected from the start of the outbreak in 2022. Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo signed a bill Friday that seeks to help with the rising cost of eggs in the state due to the increase in bird flu. "This bipartisan legislation represents how effective the legislature can be when they work together," Lombardo said in a statement. The legislation, known as Assembly Bill 171, was just introduced in the state legislature two weeks ago. It bypasses a 2021 state law that says only cage-free eggs must be sold in Nevada. The law will allow the state's quarantine officer to temporarily allow the sale of non-cage-free eggs, or Grade B eggs, for up to 120 days to help increase the supply of eggs to stores. Under the new law, small farmers will also be able to sell their eggs to retailers. Grade B eggs are safe to eat but usually aren't found in retail stores because "they are used to make liquid, frozen and dried egg products," according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. On Thursday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the first study under the Trump administration on the bird flu outbreak. The delayed release of the report comes after a January order from the administration that temporarily halted the release of public communications from federal health agencies until approved by a Trump appointee. The CDC study found bird flu antibodies in three cattle veterinarians who were tested last fall (out of 150 who were tested in total). The presence of antibodies indicates that those three veterinarians had the virus at some point, even though they didn't experience symptoms. The authors said this finding means there could be people and animals infected with bird flu in states where infection in dairy cattle hasn't been identified yet. Egg prices rose more than 15% from December to January. A dozen eggs cost about $4.95, which is "five times the overall U.S. inflation rate of 3%," CBS News reported using Consumer Price Index data. Soaring egg prices have brought nationwide attention to the widespread impact of the bird flu outbreak. Millions of birds, including chickens and ducks, have had to be euthanized since the start of the H5N1 outbreak, in 2022. While egg prices will continue to rise, they are expected to do so at a slower rate. The spike we saw in January "is likely a one-off," Gregory Daco, EY-Parthenon chief economist, told CBS News. The Ohio Department of Health reported the state's first probable human case of bird flu on Wednesday. This brings the total number of reported human cases to 69 across 12 states. A man who works on a farm in Mercer County in western Ohio came into contact with deceased commercial poultry that was infected with the virus. The health department says the overall risk to people in the state remains low, but it warned that humans should avoid direct contact with sick or dead poultry or wild birds. The Buckeye State has been experiencing the most bird flu outbreaks in the U.S., with more than 10 million birds affected by the virus across at least 54 commercial flocks, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Hundreds of thousands of chickens in Jay County, Ind., were determined to have been infected with the bird flu, the Indiana State Board of Animal Health announced this week. Over 912,000 egg-laying hens are under quarantine at a farm, officials said. The farm has not been publicly identified. It's the second-largest outbreak in the state since the global bird flu outbreak started in 2022. The largest outbreak in Indiana occurred in January at Seymour-based Rose Acre Farms, which is the second-largest U.S. egg producer, with over 2.6 million birds affected. More than 300 dead wild birds have been discovered across five Michigan counties so far in 2025, according to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. Here's where they have been found: Allegan County: 77 dead Canada geese, one dead mallard from Allegan State Game Area Shiawassee County: More than 80 dead Canada geese along the Shiawassee River near Owosso Ingham County: Roughly 25 dead Canada geese at Williamston Lakes Eaton County: 20 dead wild birds along the Grand River in Grand Ledge Washtenaw County: About 100 dead wild birds "If you find a dead wild bird, you should leave it alone; however, if you need to remove it, do not touch it with your bare hands. You should wear gloves and other personal protective equipment," said Mitch Marcus, DNR wildlife health supervisor. "The best advice we can give is to treat every wild bird as though it has a disease." Various parks around the New Jersey borough of Allentown are closed after about 30 dead Canadian geese that were removed over the weekend are suspected to have been infected with bird flu. Dr. Farmer's Park, Pete Sensi Park and a part of Heritage Park, all located close to Trenton, will remain closed while officials figure out what the best options are for public health safety, the borough's mayor, Thomas Fritts, said. A spokesperson for the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection said the birds collected may be tested for bird flu, but it's not verified as the cause of death. "We also may not send samples in if there's been a recent positive in the area,' Tanya Espinosa, a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Health and Plant Inspection Service, wrote in an email to NJ Advance Media. 'It's presumed since we know there is active (avian influenza) that birds died from it.' Three of the top five states that produce the most milk in the U.S. — Texas, Wisconsin and Idaho — are not participating in a voluntary milk testing program that was started by the U.S. Department of Agriculture after dairy cows were infected with the bird flu last March. More recently, a new variant of the bird flu was detected in dairy cows in Nevada. NBC News reports: While the risk to humans remains low, many public and animal health experts argue that broad, nationwide testing of milk is critical to containing virus cases that might otherwise go undetected, giving the variants more opportunities to spread to animals — and to humans. "It is incredibly difficult to control a disease of national importance unless we have a robust surveillance system in place," said Dr. K. Fred Gingrich II, executive director of the American Association of Bovine Practitioners, which represents cow veterinarians. "If we were testing every dairy, I don't think you'd have any cases slipping through the cracks." Read more from NBC: Bird flu is spreading in cattle, but some states still aren't part of U.S. milk testing Grocery chains like Costco, Trader Joe's, Sam's Club, Walmart, Whole Foods and Kroger across the country are introducing limits on the number of eggs a customer can buy in one trip, due to the egg shortage from the nationwide avian flu outbreak. Here's a list of some stores and how they are cracking down: Costco: In some locations, egg purchases are capped at three dozen. Trader Joe's: The store has a nationwide limit of one dozen eggs per customer per day. Sam's Club: There's a limit of two packages per customer. Walmart: Customers in certain states are limited to two 60-count egg cartons per trip. Whole Foods: Shoppers can only buy three cartons of eggs at a time. Kroger: The store has not implemented a national limit, but some stores are limiting customers to buying two dozen eggs per trip. There have been 68 confirmed cases of bird flu detected in humans across 11 U.S. states due to exposure from infected commercial poultry, dairy cattle herds, or other animals, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The agency says the current public health risk of bird flu is low. The states where human cases of bird flu have thus far been identified are Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Colorado, Texas, Louisiana, Iowa, Missouri, Wisconsin and Michigan. The state of Virginia is facing its biggest spike in bird flu cases since the U.S. outbreak started in 2022, Axios reports. From Jan. 4 to Feb. 3 alone, there have been nearly 12 times the infections in the state at one commercial flock in Accomack County, with over 441,000 birds affected, the outlet reported, citing data from the Department of Agriculture. In 2023, 37,450 birds were infected with the avian flu throughout Virginia. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention maintains that the public health risk from bird flu, also known as H5N1, is low and the agency "is watching the situation carefully and working with states to monitor people with animal exposures." Humans who contract H5N1 can experience mild symptoms such as: • Fever or feeling feverish or chills • Eye redness or irritation • Respiratory symptoms, such as cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, muscle or body aches, headaches and tiredness The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife announced on Tuesday new cases of bird flu detected in wild birds, including four Canada geese, two red-tailed hawks and a great horned owl in recent weeks. The infected birds were located in the towns of Kennebunk, Kittery, Ogunquit, South Berwick, South Portland and York. Officials have upgraded the risk of avian flu among domestic poultry, like chickens, ducks, geese and guinea hens, from "moderate" to "high" because the virus can spread easily from wild birds to domestic ones. Commercial and backyard flock owners are urged to limit contact between domestic and wild birds, wash hands, sanitize boots and equipment and wear clean clothes after handling birds.
