Are we at the edge of another pandemic? H5N1

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NYS orders live poultry markets on Long Island, NYC, Westchester to temporarily shut down over bird flu concerns

The University of Toronto has launched a rapid research response to address the public health risk posed by highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI).

HPAI viruses typically infect birds, but since 2022, there have been increasing reports of spillover to mammals, including widespread detection of HPAI in commercial dairy cows in the United States. Recently, the U.S. reported its first death of an infected person and a teen in British Columbia became critically ill with HPAI – the first human case in Canada.

The ability of HPAI viruses to jump between species greatly increases the risk of their transmission to – and within – human populations, raising concerns about a potential human outbreak.

Another project led by Samira Mubareka, a clinician scientist at Sunnybrook Research Institute, aims to better understand how HPAI virus subtypes differ in their ability to transmit in humans.

“One of the advantages of the EPIC HPAI program is access to the high containment facility needed to work with these viruses, which require a highly specialized and secure work environment,” says Mubareka, who is also an associate professor of laboratory medicine and pathobiology at U of T.

With over 50 subtypes of the H5N1 bird flu strain currently circulating, her group’s work in the Toronto High Containment Facility will be crucial to pinpointing which ones pose the greatest risk for a widespread human outbreak.

Source: U of T launches rapid research response for highly pathogenic avian influenza

The U.S. health experts are testing only a very, very small number of people for Bird Flu. So a massive outbreak can begin to talk place and we would not know this until it is too late. The following findings show this is already happening.

Notes from the Field: Seroprevalence of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza A(H5) Virus Infections Among Bovine Veterinary Practitioners — United States

Public health officials conducted a serosurvey among 150 bovine veterinary practitioners. Three practitioners had evidence of recent infection with HPAI A(H5) virus, including two without exposures to animals with known or suspected HPAI A(H5) virus infections and one who did not practice in a U.S. state with known HPAI A(H5) virus–infected cattle.

These findings suggest the possible benefit of systematic surveillance for rapid identification of HPAI A(H5) virus in dairy cattle, milk, and humans who are exposed to cattle to ensure appropriate hazard assessments.

The article then went on to say.

All three practitioners with positive serology results provided care to multiple animals, including dairy cattle; two also provided care to nondairy cattle, one provided care to poultry, and one worked at livestock markets. None worked with dairy cattle with known or suspected HPAI A(H5) virus infection; however, one practitioner did work with HPAI A(H5) virus–positive poultry. Two of the participants with a positive serologic test result reported practicing in multiple U.S. states, and two practiced in states with known HPAI A(H5) infection among cattle. However, one reported providing veterinary care to dairy cattle only in Georgia and to nondairy cattle in South Carolina; these states had not previously reported HPAI A(H5) infection in dairy cattle. All reported wearing gloves or a clothing cover when providing veterinary care to cattle (including a variety of clinical activities, such as pregnancy checking or surgery); none reported wearing respiratory or eye protection.

Another U.S. state has reported a human case of bird flu. This time Ohio.

The Ohio Department of Health on Wednesday announced the state’s first probable human case of influenza A(H5), also known as Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI). Officials said the case is an adult male in Mercer County who worked on a farm and was in contact with deceased commercial poultry that was already infected with the virus.

It is also noteworthy that:

Ohio leads the nation in bird flu cases, losing nearly 10 million birds at multiple farms with the recent outbreak.
“Ohio is experiencing the largest outbreak of positive detections in commercial poultry to date." said ODA Director Brian Baldridge.

H5N1 outbreak in State of New York in birds (ducks and geese).

Madison County Public Health has announced a positive case of highly pathogenic avian influenza, also known as H5N1, or “bird flu,” in a backyard poultry flock that housed approximately 15 ducks and geese in Wampsville.

Source: First confirmed Bird Flu cases discovered in Madison County


H5N1 outbreak in Delaware in birds (snow geese and poultry).

The Delaware Department of Agriculture announced on Tuesday, Feb. 11, that the first “presumptive” case of H5 avian influenza in poultry in Sussex County had been identified. The testing was done at the University of Delaware’s Lasher Laboratory in Georgetown. The lab is part of the National Animal Health Laboratory Network.

Tuesdays’ announcement followed the discovery of H5 avian influenza in snow geese in Sussex County in late December. In early January, birds on a poultry farm in Kent County tested positive for HPAI.

Source: Local backyard flock hit by ‘presumptive’ case of bird flu


H5N1 outbreak in Iowa in birds (turkeys).

The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship announced Thursday it had detected the highly pathogenic avian influenza in a commercial turkey flock in Buena Vista County.

This is the third detection of the virus in Iowa flocks this year; the last detection occurred Feb. 2 at a commercial egg laying facility in O’Brien County.

Source: Highly pathogenic avian influenza detected in Buena Vista County


H5N1 outbreak in Michigan in wild birds.

Hundreds of dead birds have been found in Michigan since the start of the new year, and early testing points to bird flu as the cause, the Department of Natural Resources said on Tuesday. "So far this year, more than 300 dead wild birds have been discovered in five counties," the DNR said.

Samples collected from Washtenaw and Shiawassee counties were delivered to Michigan State University's Veterinary Diagnostics Laboratory for testing, and the preliminary results indicate avian influenza.

The DNR said the 300 wild birds were found in these counties:
-- Allegan County: 77 Canada geese, and one mallard at Allegan State Game Area.
-- Shiawassee County: About 80 Canada geese were found along the Shiawassee River near Owosso.
-- Ingham County: 25 Canada geese were found in Williamston Lakes.
-- Eaton County: 20 birds were found along Grand River in Grand Ledge.
-- Washtenaw County: About 100 dead birds were reported in Washtenaw County.

Source: What is avian influenza? DNR says hundreds of wild birds have died in 2025


H5N1 outbreak in Illinois in wild birds.

In Illinois, we saw a die-off of several dozen waterfowl, most of them snow geese, at Baldwin Lake in Randolph County late last year. This month already, hundreds of waterfowl were found dead on Chicago beaches, likely a result of bird flu. There are likely many more uncounted infections and mortality among wild birds.

Do the four migration flyways ― Pacific, Central, Mississippi and Eastern ― differ in how they affect or are affected by bird flu? The different flyways have some different species, and, in some cases, there are locations where large numbers of individuals will stop during migration or in winter. Currently one of the concerns is for waterfowl. Most of the infected wild birds over the last year in Illinois have been ducks and geese. In the Mississippi flyway many waterfowl species have large populations along large rivers and thus we expect those areas might be impacted.

Source: How are migrating wild birds affected by H5N1 infection in the U.S.?

Bird flu (H5N1) has been moving from birds to animals and even some humans in the past few years.
So rather then wait until this disease explodes into a full human pandemic, one of the most deadly ones ever known, perhaps we could stop the spread in birds which will test our ability to control this disease.
So I came across an article today that explores this approach.

U.S. conditionally approves vaccine to protect poultry from avian flu

With egg prices in the United States soaring because of the spread of H5N1 influenza virus among poultry, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) yesterday conditionally approved a vaccine to protect the birds. President Donald Trump’s administration may therefore soon face a fraught decision on whether to join the ranks of other nations—including China, France, Egypt, and Mexico—that vaccinate poultry against H5N1.

Although many influenza researchers contend that vaccination can help control spread of the deadly virus, the U.S. government has long resisted allowing its use because of politics and trade concerns that many contend are unscientific. The USDA approval may signal a shift in policy linked to the Trump administration’s worries about egg prices. Even with the conditional approval, USDA must still approve its use before farmers can start to administer the vaccine because special regulations apply to H5N1 and other so-called highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) viruses.

Now I do not know if it might someday be possible for a vaccine to protect humans from H5N1 or H1N1. But if we can develop the ability to successfully vaccinate birds and stop the spread, then this approach could be very important information, should humans infections explode in the near future.

I worry that vaccinations of livestock and poultry will be banned (in the US) in the near future due to appointing the wrong people to head up the departments that control such things.

I came across an interesting article today. Research seems to show that a cure for H5N1 in animals may work. This could be very, very important news. It was tested on Macaque, a species similar to humans.



National Institutes of Health (NIH) scientists and their colleagues report that a single dose of a broadly neutralizing antibody (bnAb) administered prior to virus exposure protects macaques from severe H5N1 avian influenza.

Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 viruses have sporadically spilled over from birds into many other animals, including humans and dairy cows, in recent years. Although it has not yet acquired the capacity to spread readily between people, H5N1 has pandemic potential, which has spurred efforts to develop effective treatments and other countermeasures.

The investigators studied a bnAb called MEDI8852, which was discovered and developed by Medimmune, now part of AstraZeneca. MEDI8852 targets a portion of a key flu protein that is less prone to change than other parts of the virus and thus is capable of conferring protection against a wide range of flu viruses.

In the new study, a group of macaques received an injection of MEDI8852 and were exposed to aerosolized HPAI H5N1 virus three days later. All the pre-treated animals survived and experienced no or very limited signs of disease. In contrast, a group of control macaques developed severe or fatal illness within a short time after virus exposure.

Source: Single Dose of Broadly Neutralizing Antibody Protects Macaques From H5N1 Influenza

The research being done by Medimmune is really important, not only to Macaque but also to humans. I might even say critically important. The species of Macaque are very, very close to the human species. So if you can develop a cure for H5N1 in Macaque there is a high probability this vaccine immunization cure may also work on another species, this one is called human.

As the H5N1 (and the H1N1) bird flu virus passes from one type of birds to another and then from one animal species to another finally reaching humans, the virus is changing, always moving up to become more efficient, more transmittable to all forms of life. This means that if you can develop an effective vaccine for Macaque, you are at the doorstep of a human vaccine.

The last wild macaque in Europe.



So if we develop a vaccine that can protect this species from H5N1, we may be able to use the same vaccine to protect another extremely similar species called humans.

Bird flu is on the move, moving closer and closer to humans. Several months ago, two types of animals were found dying from H5N1. These were cats and mice. At the time, on this thread, I identified one other transition agent, Rats. The transition to Rats is extremely important. This is because there is a very high rat population in large cities and small cities. If they are in RATS, H5N1 lives in our homes.

Bird flu confirmed in rats for first time, USDA reports

Bird flu has been detected in rats for the first time, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service confirmed Wednesday. Four black rats were confirmed to have H5N1 avian flu in late January in Riverside County, California, where two recent poultry outbreaks were reported, the agency said.

According to latest survey from Orkin, the most rat infected cities in the U.S. are:

#1 Chicago, Ill.
#2 Los Angeles, Calif.
#3 New York, N.Y.
#4 San Francisco, Cali.
#5 Washington, D.C.
#6 Denver, Colo.
#7 Philadelphia, Pa.
#8 Detroit, Mich.
#9 Baltimore, Md.
#10 Cleveland, Ohio

In most cities there are more rats than humans. Riverside is part of the Los Angeles/Long Beach mega-city.

As I had written on this thread, one of the last lines of defense against Bird Flu in humans are four prescription drugs. These are:

5. If you become infected with H5N1 treat the condition immediately using one of four FDA-approved antivirals for influenza: (1) Oseltamivir phosphate (Tamiflu), (2) Zanamivir (Relenza), (3) Peramivir (Rapivab), (4) Baloxavir (Xofluza). These are prescription drugs and will require a doctors prescription. Time is of the essence here. This condition will begin to destroy the human body and make it impossible to treat within a few days. Time is of the essence.

An article published on CIDRAP (University of Minnesota) claims Oseltamivir (Tamiflu) is ineffective against H5N1.

'Exceptionally rare' mutation on H5N1 virus in Canada tied to antiviral drug resistance

In a research letter published this week in Emerging Microbes & Infections, researchers at the Canada Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) describe their discovery of a mutated H5N1 avian flu strain resistant to the antiviral drug oseltamivir (Tamiflu) on eight chicken farms in British Columbia in October 2024.

When investigating a widespread and ongoing H5N1 outbreak at 45 poultry farms, the CFIA National Centre for Foreign Animal Disease team sequenced the virus, identifying it as a clade 2.3.4.4b A(H5N1) strain. The virus had a neuraminidase surface protein derived from a low-pathogenic flu virus from a North American lineage.

This may be why the young girl in British Columbia who came down with the very deadly form of H5N1 had such a hard time recovering from the sickness, where she almost died. I wrote about this case on this site on 2 January 2025. I wrote:

A 13-year-old Canadian girl recovered after being hospitalized in critical condition with H5N1 avian influenza, researchers reported.

The girl was hospitalized on Nov. 7 and transferred to BC Children's Hospital the next day, where she was intubated and put on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) and treated with three different antivirals, David Goldfarb, MD, of BC Children's Hospital in Vancouver, and colleagues reported in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).

The girl had a history of asthma and a body mass index greater than 35. She first presented to an emergency department in British Columbia on Nov. 4 with a 2-day history of conjunctivitis in both eyes and a 1-day history of fever. She was discharged without treatment, but then she developed a cough, vomiting, and diarrhea.

She went back to the ED on Nov. 7 with respiratory distress with hemodynamic instability, Goldfarb's group reported. The next day, she was transferred to the pediatric ICU at BC Children's while on bilevel positive airway pressure. She had respiratory failure, pneumonia in the left lower lobe, acute kidney injury, thrombocytopenia, and leukopenia.

Her doctors started oseltamivir (Tamiflu) on Nov. 8, but with signs of respiratory deterioration and chest radiographs consistent with progression to acute respiratory distress syndrome, she was intubated and started on ECMO (Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation) on Nov. 9, with continuous renal replacement starting the day after that.

Physicians added amantadine (Gocovri) on Nov. 9, and baloxavir (Xofluza) on Nov. 11. She received daily plasma exchange for 3 days starting Nov. 14.

Over the next days, her respiratory status improved, and she was able to discontinue ECMO on Nov. 22, with extubation on Nov. 28.

Bird Flu is striking Northern Ireland.

Thousands more birds to be culled after suspected avian flu

A suspected case of avian flu is under investigation at a commercial poultry premises in County Tyrone. Almost 16,000 birds at the site near Pomeroy will be culled. It comes after around 64,000 birds were culled at a commercial poultry farm near Dungannon a week ago.


Bird Flu is striking Southwest England.

Bird flu: premises near Teignmouth, Teignbridge, Devon (AIV 2025/22)

Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 was confirmed in commercial poultry at a premises near Teignmouth, Teignbridge, Devon. 19 February 2025. All poultry on the premises will be humanely culled.

Most people in the U.S. have experienced only mild forms of H5N1. But cases are beginning to come to the surface. The American Academy of Ophthalmology provides an assessment of what to focus on in humans.

Historically, H5N1 can be responsible for a wide range of clinical symptoms including:
-- Mild illness: cough, sore throat, eye redness or eye discharge such as conjunctivitis, fever or feeling feverish, rhinorrhea, fatigue, myalgia, arthralgia, or headache
-- Moderate to severe illness: shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, altered mental status, or seizures
-- Complications: pneumonia, respiratory failure, acute respiratory distress syndrome, multi-organ failure (respiratory and kidney failure), sepsis, or meningoencephalitis

Both H5N1 and H7N9 epidemics presented with acute severe community-acquired pneumonia that did not respond to typical and atypical antimicrobial coverage.

Source: Novel H5N1 Bird Flu Outbreak

Since moderate to severe cases of H5N1 in humans have appeared recently in Canada and the U.S., it becomes critically important to quickly determine in sick people what form they carry.