Posted on 01/30/2025 6:39:32 AM PST by MtnClimber
H5N9 is a franken-virus, created from a combination of the genetic material from all sorts of other bird flu viruses.
Just as you thought the drama related to bird flu died down, a new strain has been reported in California.
The H5N9 strain of bird flu is a newly emergent and rare subtype of avian influenza virus that has recently been detected for the first time in the United States. This highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPIA) strain was identified on a duck farm in Merced County, alongside the more common H5N1 strain (which is the one we have been covering for the past 2 years).
This is the first confirmed case of HPAI H5N9 in poultry in the United States,” the US Department of Agriculture said in a report to the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) on Monday.
The positive test at the Merced County farm has led to “comprehensive epidemiological investigations and enhanced surveillance,” the government report noted.
H5N9 is a rare form of the common H5N1 bird flu, which has recently spread aggressively around the US, leading to the culling of hundreds of millions of poultry.
It turns out that this is a franken-virus, created from a combination of the genetic material from all sorts of other bird flu viruses.
According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, it is a reassortant virus combining elements from H5N1, H7N9, and H9N2 subtypes. Scientists are studying whether this strain could potentially infect humans or lead to a pandemic.
Federal and state animal health officials, in collaboration with the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), have begun an epidemiological investigation and enhanced surveillance efforts.
Globally, bird flu has prompted the culling of hundreds of millions of poultry since 2022, and its economic impact continues to grow.
A search of my usual databases indicates that prior to this recent outbreak, there is no significant historical record of H5N9 outbreaks. The strain was first identified in China in 2015.
In terms of the other components of this virus, multiple outbreaks of avian influenza A H5N1 and H7N9 in domestic poultry have been reported since 1997. The most recent outbreak of H5N1 started at the end of 2020 and killed more than 100 million birds.
This is a page out of FDR's new deal of killing the cattle of already broke farmers to raise beef prices. Didn't work!!!
NONE OF THIS IS AN ACCIDENT
We once had a retired CDC scientist posting here, “Mother Abigail”. She had worked on Ebola, the original SARS, and various other dangerous and scary bugs. But the one that she said has the biggest potential to cause a near extinction event is hybrid flu. It kills adults in the prime of life, and not just the very young and the elderly with weak immune systems.
Being respiratory it is easily transmitted, and you can spread it before you know that you are sick. So anytime that you see swine flu or bird flu in the news you can be sure it has the rapt attention of CDC bug hunters.
Chicken farms are next. Go to keep those chicken eggs up in price.
Where did that chicom biolab in Cally move to?
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