Free Republic

China has recorded the first human infection with the H3N8 strain of bird flu, the country's health authority said on Tuesday (April 26), but said the risk of it spreading among people was low. A four-year-old boy from central Henan province was found to have been infected with the variant after developing a fever and other symptoms on April 5. No close contacts were infected with the virus, the National Health Commission (NHC) said in a statement.

A canine flu outbreak has sickened many dogs in the Midwest, and veterinarians are cautioning pet owners to keep their dogs from going nose-to-nose with other four-legged friends. The University of Wisconsin-Madison's School of Veterinary Medicine says the virus has sickened at least 1,000 dogs in Illinois, Wisconsin, Ohio and Indiana, and some veterinarians worry it could easily spread to other areas of the country. Recent tests from the Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory have identified the strain as H3N2. Clinical assistant professor Keith Poulsen says it's not yet known how effective current vaccines are against this strain, which is believed...

Researchers have found a deadly strain of the avian influenza virus that has been sweeping through harbor seals may be able to spread to humans. That's according to a study recently published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Communications. The study, led by investigators from St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, details how an avian H3N8 virus strain that had killed more than 160 seals along the New England coast back in 2011 boasted specific characteristics that allowed it to be easily spread through respiratory droplets and made it a potential threat for human infection.

FISHERSVILLE — Dog influenza has come to the Shenandoah Valley. An Augusta County veterinarian last week confirmed the first area case of canine influenza, H3N8, a virus informally documented by the Virginia Veterinarian Medicine Association only six times in state history. “We knew it was coming,” Cedarcrest Animal Clinic veterinarian William Olkowski said Friday. Considered a horse virus until late 2003, H3N8 mutated and began to spread among dogs, Olkowski said. The local confirmation is not cause for alarm, he said, but vaccination is recommended for some dogs. Owners of dogs that come into contact with other dogs at shows,...