Five things to know about bird flu
As a new virus takes center stage at the heart of a global outbreak, it's easy to get flashbacks of March 2020.
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As a new virus takes center stage at the heart of a global outbreak, it's easy to get flashbacks of March 2020.
10 hours ago
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The bird flu has arrived in Colorado, and while it doesn't represent anywhere near the threat that COVID-19 did at the beginning of the pandemic, people should take some precautions with animals that could carry it, experts ...
May 8, 2024
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In light of the United States Food and Drug Administration's announcement that bird flu has been discovered in cow's milk, board-certified infectious disease physician Carl Abraham, M.D., assistant professor at New York Institute ...
May 2, 2024
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The WHO said Tuesday it was being frequently updated by Washington about the bird flu outbreak in the United States—the only country so far where dairy cows have been infected.
Apr 30, 2024
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The World Health Organization (WHO) called Wednesday for a strengthening of global detection networks for the H5N1 bird flu virus which infected a large number of animal species.
Apr 24, 2024
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The United States' Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued a health alert after the first case of H5N1 avian influenza, or bird flu, seemingly spread from a cow to a human.
Apr 8, 2024
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A Texas plant full of egg-laying hens has been shut down temporarily after bird flu was detected in the animals.
Apr 3, 2024
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An unnamed person in Texas had been diagnosed with the H5N1 avian flu after close contact with infected dairy cattle, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Monday.
Apr 1, 2024
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Reports of a surge in pneumonia-like illness primarily affecting children in northern China have captured our attention. The last time we heard about a mysterious respiratory outbreak leading to overcrowding in hospitals ...
Nov 27, 2023
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A 2-year-old girl is the second person in Cambodia to die of bird flu this week, and the third this year, the country's Health Ministry has announced.
Oct 10, 2023
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Avian influenza, sometimes avian flu, and commonly bird flu, refers to "influenza caused by viruses adapted to birds." Of greatest concern is highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI).
"Bird flu" is a phrase similar to "swine flu," "dog flu," "horse flu," or "human flu" in that it refers to an illness caused by any of many different strains of influenza viruses that have adapted to a specific host. All known viruses that cause influenza in birds belong to the species influenza A virus. All subtypes (but not all strains of all subtypes) of influenza A virus are adapted to birds, which is why for many purposes avian flu virus is the influenza A virus (note that the "A" does not stand for "avian").
Adaptation is non-exclusive. Being adapted towards a particular species does not preclude adaptations, or partial adaptations, towards infecting different species. In this way strains of influenza viruses are adapted to multiple species, though may be preferential towards a particular host. For example, viruses responsible for influenza pandemics are adapted to both humans and birds. Recent influenza research into the genes of the Spanish flu virus shows it to have genes adapted to both birds and humans; with more of its genes from birds than less deadly later pandemic strains.
This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA