The Him of Flu is at a dangerous point in the United States: almost 167 million birds were stricken Soy H5n1 of 2022 and 70 people are infected. Now, birds fly for the spring season of migration.
Snow geese near Montreal, a large horned owl in the southwestern Ontario, a Canadian goose in Langley, BC – these are just some of the wild birds that recently tested in Canada positively at H5N1. But scientists are preparing for more and enhancing their efforts on the supervision and suppression of viruses this season.
This winter recorded more H5N1 outbreaks than usual, said Dr. Manon Racicot, a veterinary epidemiologist at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) in Saint-Hyacinthe, Que.
“Now that the birds are returning to the north for migration, we don’t really know what is coming to us. Will the birds continue to be infected? Will she spill a virus in the Canada environment?”
Adding scientists’ concern: Another strain of bird flu, H7n9, was reported On a poultry farm in Mississippi, USA – first since 2017. Although this is not the dominant type of bird flu that currently carries out the ŽE in the United States, the H7N9 has a far higher death rate than H5n1, killing almost 40 percent of people infected since they were discovered in 2013, which were killed birds, and the coming, and the cache, and spaced, and the mostly killed birds, said State authorities.
One mutation far away
The H5n1 also exceeded the species and adapted to hosts of mammals. Animals like seals, cats and dogs died after hanging out with wild birds or ate raw pet food.
Milky cows in the United States have become ill in the crowd, with 989 herds affected in 17 countries, According to centers for the control and prevention of illness.
It seems that the flu flu cannot easily be transmitted between people. But the soy of H5n1 that circulates in cows in the US -in just one mutation is distant than the transmitted between people, suggests study Recently published in the reviewed magazine Science.
And when infecting people, the virus can be deadly. In January, the elder in Louisiani became the first human death associated with the H5N1 in the US
The Canadian only known H5N1 case was confirmed two months earlier, in November: a teenager in British Colombia who had been hospitalized for two months. We still don’t know how she was infected.
In both cases genetic analysis suggested The virus muttered become more effective in attachment to the cells in the upper respiratory tract.
All this has scientists and doctors on high standby.
“Honestly, one case of bird flu is very worrying because we do not want this virus to adapt to people,” said Dr. Danut Skowron, an epidemiologist at the BC Center for Disease Control (BCCDC).
“We all have a responsibility to close it as quickly as possible to restrain it. This is a global effort. We communicate globally with the US, with the UK, wherever we can ensure that we get the best of the knowledge.”
Draw from whom, talking to re -enhance employees
How much the disease is currently changing to the United States, it is critical that US authorities continue to communicate with other countries and the World Health Organization (WHO), says Ian Brown, a leading bird flu expert from the Pirbright Institute in the UK in the UK
But Trump’s administration pulls from WHO. It also reduces funding and jobs in key agencies such as National Health Institutes.
“We know this is a sensitive situation. We know some of our colleagues, they may be in danger of having no job,” Brown said.
Early days, he says, are afraid that the exchange of information between American scientists and international colleagues will be reduced.
“Early signs are that the interaction we are used to, successfully for many years, can now be threatened.”
There were already wrong steps.
The Agricultural Department has Scheduled for Rehire Employees who work on the response to the bird flu, after being wrongly fired during the rapid cleaning of federal workforce, on the recommendations of the Ministry of Government Elona Musk. Had problems with returning, Politico reported.
Who has already seen an impact on the cuttings of bird flu, SSAID card General Director Dr. Tedro Adhan Ghebreyesus on Monday.
Is he talking to Canada on a bird’s flu now?
Fortunately, now they return the Canadian calls to human cases of bird flu, especially among those who work with infected poultry or milk cattle, says Dr. Teresa Tam, Canadian Chief Public Health Officer.
“I think public health at all levels tries to really be very awake about cases in these different population and we share information continuously,” Tam said.
Canada relies on the US to effectively suppress the virus. For example, on the health side of animals, American and Canadian officials work together on the supervision of bird flying and carefully birds of wild and domestic birds, sharing mutations of concern, as well as approximate locations of infected birds.
At the province level, teams in British Colombia hold close contact with colleagues in countries like Washington, Oregon and Alaska, said Dr. Bonnie Henry, a BC provincial health official.
“I think one of the things that helps us is the relationships we have, personal relationships.”
Canada also carefully watches our milk cows: Cfia Tests samples a raw milk that arrives in processing plants. So far, all samples have returned negative, from February 28.
Learning from Coid-19
But both Tam and Henry emphasize: it is important to increase the control of the Canadian and be prepared, especially in the event that the virus changes and become more transparent among people, which could encourage pandemic.
These efforts include “an increase in monitoring and alertness, laboratory testing, ensuring that any human case is being explored,” Tam said.
Scientists at BCCDC are among many in Canada already doing some of this preparatory work.
“Through the pandemic we have learned a lot about the tools that public health can use to make its decisions,” said Linda Hoang, medical director of her public health.
BCCDC follows mutations that could make H5N1 more customized people, developing antibodies tests for monitoring people exposure and exploring the way bird flu is transmitted.
These are all information that could be crucial for decision makers if the virus becomes more transparent.
Henry says she is convinced – even if there are temporary silence from American colleagues – that Canadian supervision is strong enough to closely follow the bird’s flu.
