Free Republic

The Georgia Department of Agriculture announced the suspension of all poultry-related activities in the state after a case of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza was detected in a commercial facility. The positive case of HPAI, found by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service at a commercial poultry operation in Elbert County, Georgia, was the first discovered in a commercial operation in the Peach State, according to a Jan. 17 notice from the Georgia Department of Agriculture. That means all “in-state poultry exhibitions, shows, swaps, meets, and sales are suspended until further notice.” “For the first time...

Maricopa County public health officials say they’ve detected “an influenza subtype associated with avian flu in local wastewater” in Phoenix, Surprise, and Tempe, Arizona. Officials say the risk to the general population remains low. The Gateway Pundit has reported on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) fear-mongering about a new potential pandemic of avian flu as if the public hasn’t been subjected to enough panic and virus hoaxes in recent years. In a move reminiscent of his overreaching COVID-19 policies, California Governor Gavin Newsom has declared a state of emergency in California this month in response to the...

A video recently emerged showing several cows lying dead on roadsides in California’s Central Valley amid an avian influenza outbreak across the U.S., sparking biosafety concerns. The dead cows were close together with swarms of flies buzzing around them, video shows. Dr. Crystal Heath, a veterinary doctor with the Berkeley, California-based nonprofit Our Honor, took the video Oct. 8 and shared it on Twitter on Oct. 17. The dead livestock were in front of Mendonsa Farms and Land O’Lakes Borges Dairy, both in Tulare County, Heath said. There were no visible warning signs of potential biosafety risk that the exposed...

Nearly 1.8 million chickens will be killed after bird flu was detected at an egg-laying operation in Weld County, a major resurgence on a commercial farm of the disease that has already seen more than 6 million birds culled. Gov. Jared Polis verbally declared a disaster declaration for the facility over the long holiday weekend. The move activates the state’s emergency operations plan and makes additional resources available to respond to the outbreak. A spokeswoman for the Colorado Department of Agriculture declined to name the facility.

Cows in California have tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) and are now in quarantine, according to the state's Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA). California hosts a fifth of the nation's dairy cows, and it is the number one producer of milk, butter, and ice cream, and the number two producer of cheese and yogurt in the US. The current infections of HPAI among cattle in the US started in March, when a 'mysterious' illness broke out among dairy cows in Texas...These cows were the first in the world to officially test positive for the bird flu...

You might have assumed that a bioengineered virus, funded by the U.S. government, escaping from a CCP lab and triggering a years-long worldwide economic meltdown would be enough to cut off the gravy train to Chinese research institutions for gain-of-function research.But that would be entirely too reasonable of a remedial action.Instead, U.S. government agencies are still, in 2024, funneling cash to government-run Chinese labs for exactly the kind of tinkering that caused COVID-19 — and they’re lying about it, under oath, so far with no consequences.In March, in a congressional hearing, Congressman Ben Cline asked U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom...

Shares of vaccine stocks Moderna (NASDAQ: MRNA), Novavax (NASDAQ: NVAX), and BioNTech SE (NASDAQ: BNTX) rallied this week, appreciating 23.4%, 16.4%, and 9.3%, respectively, through Thursday trading, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. While these three stocks gained notoriety back in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, it appears this week's detection of avian bird flu in a second U.S. citizen and the first-ever detection of avian flu in a human in Australia are spurring fears of an outbreak and thus a possible boon for companies that can quickly produce a bird flu vaccine. Bird flu detected in Michigan...

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s administration has declared an “extraordinary animal health emergency” and imposed “the most comprehensive measures in the country” to combat highly pathogenic avian influenza. “Producers must immediately implement robust biosecurity practices and create emergency preparedness plans and this order starts to address these on-farm risks,” Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Director Tim Boring said statement last week. Those measures include a biosecurity manager for every farm, a secure perimeter around poultry, cleaning and disinfection for people and vehicles, a log of all people and vehicles that enter farms, isolation of lactating cows until 30 days after...

If it’s true that you are what you eat, then most beef-eating Americans consist of a smattering of poultry feathers, urine, feces, wood chips and chicken saliva, among other food items. As epidemiologists scramble to figure out how dairy cows throughout the Midwest became infected with a strain of highly pathogenic avian flu — a disease that has decimated hundreds of millions of wild and farmed birds, as well as tens of thousands of mammals across the planet — they’re looking at a standard “recycling” practice employed by thousands of farmers across the country: The feeding of animal waste and...

A recent statement from the World Health Organization (WHO) is sure to ruffle a few feathers. The international health group expressed “great concern” over the rising number of bird flu cases in humans. The organization also announced Friday that the virus has been found in raw milk. Dr. Jeremy Farrar, chief scientist at the WHO, noted that the avian flu, also called H5N1, had an “extremely high” mortality rate among those who had been infected around the world. “The great concern, of course, is that … [the] virus now evolves and develops the ability to infect humans. And then critically,...

The company that released contaminated flu virus material from a plant in Austria confirmed Friday that the experimental product contained live H5N1 avian flu viruses. And an official of the World Health Organization’s European operation said the body is closely monitoring the investigation into the events that took place at Baxter International’s research facility in Orth-Donau, Austria. “At this juncture we are confident in saying that public health and occupational risk is minimal at present,” medical officer Roberta Andraghetti said from Copenhagen, Denmark. “But what remains unanswered are the circumstances surrounding the incident in the Baxter facility in Orth-Donau.” The...

As avian influenza (bird flu) continues to spread among wild birds in the European Union, officials are warning of the potential for a future human pandemic. On Wednesday, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) issued an alert noting that "transmission between bird and mammal species has been observed, particularly in fur animal farms, where outbreaks have been reported."

The largest producer of fresh eggs in the U.S. said Tuesday it had temporarily halted production at a Texas plant after bird flu was found in chickens, and officials said the virus had also been detected at a poultry facility in Michigan. In Texas, Ridgeland, Mississippi-based Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. said in a statement that approximately 1.6 million laying hens and 337,000 pullets, about 3.6% of its total flock, were destroyed after the infection, avian influenza, was found at the facility in Parmer County, Texas. The plant is on the Texas-New Mexico border in the Texas Panhandle about 85 miles southwest...

Former CDC Director Robert Redfield's biggest fear for a future pandemic is a genetically manipulated bird flu, given that NIH-funded scientists in 2012 published instructions for making such a pathogen cross the "species barrier" to humans, a highly unlikely result from viral evolution. "I didn't think we needed to give terrorists a recipe" for modifying a bird flu to kill 5%-50% of people it infects, Dr. Redfield told "Just the News, No Noise," recalling his argument to then-National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci — his future antagonist on COVID origins and gain-of-function research — against publishing...

The price of eggs has skyrocketed in recent months, up 138% year-over-year last month. A dozen eggs now averages about $4.25, due in part to avian flu, which is tearing through poultry farms across the U.S.—wiping out some 58 million birds in the last year. But there’s another culprit, says a farm advocacy group: price gouging. America’s largest egg producer saw a 600% jump in profits in the last quarter... ...“Avian flu is not manufactured—it’s real,” says Joe Maxwell, the co-founder of Farm Action. “But the dominant firms are using that supply chain disruption to gouge the consumers...” ...Overall, U.S....

The cost of a dozen eggs has now surpassed the price of a pound of beef, marking the first time that’s happened since the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics began keeping data in 1980. The average price of a dozen large Grade A eggs ran at $4.82 in January 2023, while a pound of ground beef was $4.64. In January 2022, eggs were $1.93, and beef was $4.77, but egg prices have soared by 70% in the last year alone. Farm Action, a farmer-led advocacy group, says the “real culprit” behind sky-high prices is a “collusive scheme” among top U.S....

It wasn’t that long ago that Mitt Romney was threatening former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard for suggesting the US was funding biolabs in Ukraine.Back in March 2022, RINO Senator Mitt Romney accused former Democrat Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of spreading ‘treasonous lies’ for simply talking about the US-funded biolabs in Ukraine.“There are 25+ US-funded biolabs in Ukraine which if breached would release and spread deadly pathogens to US/world.” Gabbard said at the time.“We must take action now to prevent disaster. US/Russia/Ukraine/NATO/UN/EU must implement a ceasefire now around these labs until they’re secured and pathogens destroyed,” she added.VIDEO…

It wasn’t that long ago that Mitt Romney was threatening former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard for suggesting the US was funding biolabs in Ukraine. Back in March 2022, RINO Senator Mitt Romney accused former Democrat Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of spreading ‘treasonous lies’ for simply talking about the US-funded biolabs in Ukraine. “There are 25+ US-funded biolabs in Ukraine which if breached would release and spread deadly pathogens to US/world.” Gabbard said at the time. “We must take action now to prevent disaster. US/Russia/Ukraine/NATO/UN/EU must implement a ceasefire now around these labs until they’re secured and pathogens destroyed,” she added. VIDEO: There...

California wildlife experts recently confirmed that an adult bobcat died from highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1, marking the first detection of the virus in a wild mammal in the state. The bobcat's remains were collected in Butte County and tested for the disease. It was wearing a GPS collar as part of a study by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. The HPAI H5N1 virus was first detected in wild birds in California last year and has since been found in birds from 44 counties and domestic birds from 18 counties. Waterfowl and domestic poultry are especially vulnerable...

Ahighly contagious strain of bird flu has been detected in three grizzly bears in Montana, the first time the disease has been found in grizzlies. The three bears tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in fall 2022, and were found to be suffering from neurological issues, including disorientation and partial blindness, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) said in a January 17 statement... ...Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data shows that as of January 11, over 57 million poultry across the U.S. were infected by HPAI, most of which have died or been culled, while nearly...