Time to duck and cover?
A migratory duck shot by a hunter in Washington state has tested positive for the “highly pathogenic” H5N1 avian bird flu virus:
US – OIE report: HP H5N1 in duck in Washington State – January 21, 2015 – FluTrackers http://t.co/mMVsOzb9w7
— Novel Influenza News (@H7N9Influenza) January 21, 2015
But, it’s not time to panic:
It's heeeeere..sort of. H5N1 found in a US duck http://t.co/Dx3sBp6V4R
— Maggie Fox (@maggiemfox) January 23, 2015
From the NBC link above:
A green-winged teal shot by a hunter in northern Washington state has tested positive for H5N1 bird flu — a relative of the virus that’s infected nearly 700 people globally and killed 400 of them.
It’s the first case of highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza ever seen in the U.S. The good news is that the strain is genetically different from the strain that’s circulated in China, across Asia and most recently in Egypt. It doesn’t appear to have infected any people or even domestic poultry.
[…]
The H5N1 that most people are worried about has killed or forced the destruction of hundreds of millions of chickens around the world. It occasionally infects people and the fear is it will mutate into a form that makes it pass easily from person to person. That would spark a pandemic that could kill millions.
And here’s the latest on fighting H5N1 in Africa and the Middle East, where there are reports of hundreds of thousands of infected birds at farms along with some human deaths:
Israel reports another avian flu outbreak, pelicans blamed for spreading the virus https://t.co/1cNTn4V771 #birdflu #H5N1
— Gert van der Hoek (@GertvanderHoek) January 23, 2015
Egypt – Media report of MoH announcement – 3 more bird flu H5N1 cases, including 1 death http://t.co/N4AhO5F9MN
— Novel Influenza News (@H7N9Influenza) January 23, 2015
Egypt: Sixth #H5N1 death in 2015 http://t.co/2CskBzFUW2 h/t @Fla_Medic
— Crawford Kilian (@Crof) January 21, 2015
Nigeria confirms H5N1 bird flu outbreak http://t.co/J4sMDf0J5A
— Daniel Aguvasu (@daguvasu) January 23, 2015
Nigeria H5N1 bird flu now in 7 states, suspected in 140,000 birds: minister http://t.co/NY1TuQ0ccq
— Reuters Health (@Reuters_Health) January 22, 2015
Palestine – Bird flu H5N1 detected in Westbank – https://t.co/xrm3tVr4lK
— Ria Hazenberg (@riahazenberg) January 23, 2015
Nigerian officials say they “will successfully control the bird flu outbreak.”
Let’s hope, however, that Nigeria is slightly better at controlling bird flu than it is at controlling Boko Haram.
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