'Fresh pandemic fears as scientists on ground zero in Cambodia find H5N1 strain that killed 11-year-old girl had evolved to infect human cells better
Scientists on the ground who made the find said it was of the "utmost concern"
[...] "some indications" the virus had already "gone through" a human and picked up the new mutations before infecting the girl.
[...] father has also tested positive for the virus but has not developed symptoms.
[...] spread primarily through droplets in the air which are breathed in or get into a person's mouth, eyes or nose'
H5N1 bird flu HAS mutated to infect people, scientists on ground zero in Cambodia say
'The virus, which primarily infects birds, is circulating uncontrolled around much of the world, devastating not just birds but wide swaths of the animal kingdom. Foxes, bobcats, and pigs have fallen ill. Grizzly bears have gone blind. Sea creatures, including seals and sea lions, have died in great numbers.
But none of the sickened animals has raised as much concern as mink. [...] t was likely the first time that mammal-to-mammal spread drove a huge outbreak of bird flu. Because mink are known to spread certain viruses to humans, the fear was that the disease could jump from mink to people. [...]
Outbreaks on crowded mink farms are an ideal scenario for bird flu to mutate. If, in doing so, it picks up the ability to spread between humans, it could potentially start another global pandemic. [...] Right now, mink are a problem we can't afford to ignore.
[...] we share similar receptors for COVID, bird flu, and human flu, through which these viruses can gain entry into our bodies.
[...] Mink wouldn't get sick as often, and wouldn't be as big an issue for humans, if we didn't keep farming them for fur in the perfect conditions for outbreaks. [...]
[...] could create a new variant that's better at binding to the human flu receptors in our upper respiratory tract [...] If the virus gains the ability to infect the nose and throat, [...] it would be better at spreading. [...]
Because mink carry the receptors for both bird flu and human flu, they could serve as "mixing vessels" for the viruses to combine [...] The previous three influenza pandemics all arose due to mixing between avian and human influenza viruses," [...]
[...] Any mammal species repeatedly infected by the virus is a potential risk [...] But we should be most concerned about the ones humans frequently come into close contact with, especially animals that are raised in high density, such as pigs[...]
[...] The era we live in has become known as the "Pandemicene," [...] defined by the regular spillover of viruses into humans, caused by our disruption of the normal trajectories of viral movement in nature.'
We Have a Mink Problem
... revenge of the animal farms?
56% mortality rate in humans (though the sample size is small... only 240 reported cases---possibly not counting asymptomatic cases):
ai_20230224.pdf (who.int)
This post has been edited by Azath Vitr (D'ivers: 02 March 2023 - 12:35 PM
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Cause, on 27 February 2023 - 05:10 PM, said:
JG1.jpg (26.95K)
