S.African chickens hit by 'worst' bird flu outbreak
South African poultry farmers have warned of possible chicken and egg shortages as they battle what the industry says is the worst bird flu outbreak ever to hit the country.
South African poultry farmers have warned of possible chicken and egg shortages as they battle what the industry says is the worst bird flu outbreak ever to hit the country.
Veterinary medicine
Sep 22, 2023
0
2
The Galapagos National Park said Tuesday that it had detected its first cases of avian flu on the remote islands, home to unique bird species that helped inspire the theory of evolution.
Ecology
Sep 20, 2023
0
15
A scientist who has dedicated his life to studying seabirds has revealed how climate change has led to mass mortality events, altered breeding times and how the population is now being devastated by bird flu, in one of the ...
Plants & Animals
Sep 19, 2023
0
1
Of all the recently emerging and potentially pandemic viruses, the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) virus H5N1 is one of the fiercest. First detected in Hong Kong in 1997, it spread to the rest of the world with a ...
Veterinary medicine
Sep 14, 2023
0
6
A new Europe-wide study compiled information on the occurrence of over 75 pathogenic microbes across Europe from almost 400 bird- and 40 bat species. Combining data on occurrence with climatic factors revealed that the occurrence ...
Plants & Animals
Sep 11, 2023
0
10
Scores of sea lions have died from bird flu in Argentina, officials said Tuesday, as an unprecedented global outbreak continues to infect mammals, raising fears it could spread more easily among humans.
Veterinary medicine
Aug 30, 2023
0
13
Finland, Europe's largest producer of fox fur, is culling 120,000 farmed foxes and minks in response to bird flu outbreaks in the country's fur farms, officials said Wednesday.
Veterinary medicine
Aug 23, 2023
0
29
A highly pathogenic bird flu is currently sweeping the world—and New Zealand could be better prepared for its potential arrival.
Ecology
Aug 18, 2023
0
1
The 1968 influenza pandemic was caused by the H3N2 flu strain and killed between 1 and 4 million people globally. For the sake of comparison, the WHO estimates that around 3 million people died of COVID-related illness in ...
People around the world are living longer, healthier lives than they were just half a century ago.
Ecology
Jul 18, 2023
0
32
Influenza, commonly referred to as the flu, is an infectious disease caused by RNA viruses of the family Orthomyxoviridae (the influenza viruses), that affects birds and mammals. The name influenza comes from the Italian influenza, meaning "influence" (Latin: influentia). The most common symptoms of the disease are chills, fever, sore throat, muscle pains, severe headache, coughing, weakness and general discomfort. Fever and coughs are the most frequent symptoms. In more serious cases, influenza causes pneumonia, which can be fatal, particularly for the young and the elderly. Although it is often confused with other influenza-like illnesses, especially the common cold, influenza is a much more severe disease than the common cold and is caused by a different type of virus. Influenza may produce nausea and vomiting, particularly in children, but these symptoms are more common in the unrelated gastroenteritis, which is sometimes called "stomach flu" or "24-hour flu".
Typically, influenza is transmitted through the air by coughs or sneezes, creating aerosols containing the virus. Influenza can also be transmitted by bird droppings, saliva, nasal secretions, feces and blood. Infection can also occur through contact with these body fluids or through contact with contaminated surfaces. Airborne aerosols have been thought to cause most infections, although which means of transmission is most important is not absolutely clear. Influenza viruses can be inactivated by sunlight, disinfectants and detergents. As the virus can be inactivated by soap, frequent hand washing reduces the risk of infection.
Influenza spreads around the world in seasonal epidemics, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of thousands annually — millions in pandemic years. Three influenza pandemics occurred in the 20th century and killed tens of millions of people, with each of these pandemics being caused by the appearance of a new strain of the virus in humans. Often, these new strains appear when an existing flu virus spreads to humans from other animal species, or when an existing human strain picks up new genes from a virus that usually infects birds or pigs. An avian strain named H5N1 raised the concern of a new influenza pandemic, after it emerged in Asia in the 1990s, but it has not evolved to a form that spreads easily between people. In April 2009 a novel flu strain evolved that combined genes from human, pig, and bird flu, initially dubbed "swine flu", emerged in Mexico, the United States, and several other nations. WHO officially declared the outbreak to be a "pandemic" on June 11, 2009.
Vaccinations against influenza are usually given to people in developed countries and to farmed poultry. The most common human vaccine is the trivalent influenza vaccine (TIV) that contains purified and inactivated material from three viral strains. Typically, this vaccine includes material from two influenza A virus subtypes and one influenza B virus strain. The TIV carries no risk of transmitting the disease, and it has very low reactivity. A vaccine formulated for one year may be ineffective in the following year, since the influenza virus evolves rapidly, and new strains quickly replace the older ones. Antiviral drugs can be used to treat influenza, with neuraminidase inhibitors being particularly effective.
This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA