Avian influenza is a group of infectious diseases in birds caused by avian-adapted influenza A viruses (Orthomyxoviridae), characterized by segmented, negative-sense, single-stranded RNA genomes and diverse hemagglutinin (H) and neuraminidase (N) subtypes. Strains are classified as low or highly pathogenic based on molecular determinants, particularly in the hemagglutinin cleavage site, and associated clinical severity in poultry. Research topics include viral ecology in wild waterfowl reservoirs, transmission dynamics at the wildlife–poultry–human interface, molecular evolution and reassortment, host-range restriction mechanisms, immune escape, and risk assessment for zoonotic spillover and pandemic potential.
Chicken eggs are already used to harvest helpful proteins called antibodies to protect humans from viruses such as influenza. Now, a breakthrough at the University of Missouri could one day lead to chickens that produce other ...
Biotechnology
12 hours ago
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An international group of scientists mapped the spread of the current dominant strain of highly pathogenic avian influenza virus through North American bird populations in 2024. Led by scientists from St. Jude Children's ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Apr 15, 2026
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Bird flu—specifically H5N1—is no longer just a poultry problem in Asia. What started as a major United States outbreak, first in wildlife, then in poultry, and later in dairy cattle, is raising new concerns about food security, ...
Biotechnology
Apr 10, 2026
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14
Birds have, for centuries, been captured from the wild to be kept in cages—valued for their looks, songs and ability to imitate sounds. Data compiled by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), ...
Ecology
Apr 8, 2026
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The movement patterns of waterfowl, including ducks, swans and geese, may affect the spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza in bird populations, according to a new study from the University of Georgia. The findings are ...
Plants & Animals
Apr 7, 2026
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Sudden drop in milk production, thickened milk, and cows under movement restrictions. Since 2024, American farmers have had bitter experiences with the feared bird flu (H5N1), which in several cases has been introduced to ...
Plants & Animals
Mar 19, 2026
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When the H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza virus was discovered on a poultry farm in Asia in 1996, there was little indication that it would become so widespread and so destructive. Within 30 years, it reached every ...
Plants & Animals
Mar 19, 2026
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91
Scientists at Duke-NUS Medical School have found that viruses circulating in live poultry markets can be detected more effectively by sampling the surrounding environment than by testing individual birds. The study, published ...
Veterinary medicine
Mar 5, 2026
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Currently, Australia is the only continent in the world still free from the highly contagious H5 bird flu. But that status faces an ongoing threat.
Veterinary medicine
Mar 2, 2026
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21
More than four out of every five dead black vultures examined by University of Georgia researchers tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza, according to a new study published in Scientific Reports. The actual ...
Ecology
Mar 2, 2026
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