Tracking the next pandemic: Avian Flu Talk |
Two UK human H5 cases |
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Dutch Josh
Adviser Group Joined: May 01 2013 Location: Arnhem-Netherla Status: Offline Points: 95957 |
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Posted: May 16 2023 at 1:06pm |
[url]https://www.gov.uk/government/news/avian-flu-detected-in-2-individuals-taking-part-in-testing-programme[/url] or https://www.gov.uk/government/news/avian-flu-detected-in-2-individuals-taking-part-in-testing-programme ; Press release Avian flu detected in 2 individuals taking part in testing programmeUKHSA has detected influenza A (H5) virus in 2 poultry workers, following the introduction of an asymptomatic testing programme for people who have been in contact with infected birds. DJ |
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We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
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Dutch Josh
Adviser Group Joined: May 01 2013 Location: Arnhem-Netherla Status: Offline Points: 95957 |
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The 2 people returning positive tests are known to have recently worked on an infected poultry farm in England. Neither has experienced any symptoms of avian influenza and both have since tested negative. Detection of avian influenza in poultry workers can follow contamination of the nose and throat from breathing in material on the affected farm or can be true infection. It can be difficult to distinguish these in people who have no symptoms. Based on the timing of exposures and test results, one individual is likely to have had contamination of the nose and/or throat from material inhaled on the farm, while for the second individual it is more difficult to determine which is the case. Further investigation is under way but meanwhile precautionary contact tracing has been undertaken for this second individual. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has not detected evidence of human-to-human transmission and these detections do not change the level of risk to human health, which remains very low to the general population. Professor Susan Hopkins, Chief Medical Advisor at UKHSA, said:
UKHSA has contact traced close contacts where needed. For those with the highest risk exposures, UKHSA health protection teams contact them daily to monitor for the development of any symptoms so that we can take appropriate action if necessary. In the asymptomatic surveillance programme, poultry workers are asked to take swabs of their nose and throat which are tested for the presence of influenza virus, during the 10 days after their exposure. In some cases they may also be asked to have finger prick blood tests to see if UKHSA can detect antibodies against avian influenza, suggestive of an immune response in the blood. As part of public health response, UKHSA follows up all individuals who have been in contact with a confirmed human case of avian influenza. For those with the highest risk exposures, we may offer testing and antivirals, to help protect them from infection as well as to reduce the risk of passing infection to others. Guidance from Defra on the signs of bird flu and how to report it in poultry and other birds is available on GOV.UK, while further guidance on avoiding the risk of infection when working with infected poultry is published by the Health Safety Executive. |
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We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
~Albert Einstein |
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Dutch Josh
Adviser Group Joined: May 01 2013 Location: Arnhem-Netherla Status: Offline Points: 95957 |
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[url]https://afludiary.blogspot.com/2023/05/ukhsa-investigating-two-potential.html[/url] or https://afludiary.blogspot.com/2023/05/ukhsa-investigating-two-potential.html ; One of the things we've learned about avian flu over the past couple of decades is that the virus can be spread via the `dust' (dried feces, feathers, other contaminants, etc.) that abound in wet markets and poultry farms.
More recently, in 2022's Zoonoses & Public Health: Aerosol Exposure of Live Bird Market Workers to Viable Influenza A/H5N1 and A/H9N2 Viruses, Cambodia, we looked at a study that documented high levels of viable H5 & H9 viruses in the air at a Cambodian LBM during the `high season' for avian flu.
Today the UK HSA is reporting on two asymptomatic poultry workers whose nasal and throat swabs have tested positive for H5N1. At this time, the jury is still out on whether either of them was actually infected, but hopefully follow-up serology tests will provide better answers. - Six weeks ago, in UK Novel Flu Surveillance: Quantifying TTD, we looked at estimates of how many community H5N1 cases would probably be needed before the UK's surveillance system would sound an alarm on community spread.
The UK estimates it would likely take between 3 and 10 weeks before community spread would become apparent to authorities, after anywhere between a few dozen to a few thousand community infections.
As we've discussed previously, it requires more than a little luck to detect sporadic cases - such as we've seen in Peru and Chile - even in countries with well-equipped and functioning public health systems. DJ, very likely there is only bird-human NO !!! h2h spread in the UK... |
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We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
~Albert Einstein |
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KiwiMum
Chief Moderator Joined: May 29 2013 Status: Offline Points: 29680 |
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Josh, I've often thought, as I clean out my chicken houses, that there must be many cases globally of avian flu in people who keep poultry and they never know it. They might have the flu and recover, or have no symptoms at all, and because the avian flu doesn't spread from human to human, no one ever knows about it. All those particles of powdered chicken poo...... |
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Those who got it wrong, for whatever reason, may feel defensive and retrench into a position that doesn’t accord with the facts.
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Dutch Josh
Adviser Group Joined: May 01 2013 Location: Arnhem-Netherla Status: Offline Points: 95957 |
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DJ, working with animals living close together is a high risk...Masks may offer some protection...ventilation welcome as long as possible diseases do not spread to other living beings nearby (Denmark CoViD-cluster-5 spread from minks to neighbours [url]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cluster_5[/url] or https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cluster_5)... From [url]https://flutrackers.com/forum/forum/europe/h5n1-tracking/united-kingdom-and-northern-ireland/974229-uk-health-security-press-release-h5-avian-flu-detected-in-2-individuals-taking-part-in-testing-programme-may-16-2023?view=stream[/url] or https://flutrackers.com/forum/forum/europe/h5n1-tracking/united-kingdom-and-northern-ireland/974229-uk-health-security-press-release-h5-avian-flu-detected-in-2-individuals-taking-part-in-testing-programme-may-16-2023?view=stream latest -a (incomplete) overview of recent H5N1 UK spread Please see: UK: Bird flu in poultry 2023 UK: 2022 - 2023 H5N1 in Wild Birds Bird flu concerns grow after death of 10 bush dogs at UK zoo raises fears of spread between mammals Bird flu: Two dolphins die from avian influenza in UK waters for the first time UK: Birds to be culled after avian flu detected at poultry farm near Carlisle A case of avian influenza A(H5N1) in England, January 2022 (human) DJ also very good info (most likely missing cases) [url]https://flutrackers.com/forum/forum/flutrackers-high-pathogenic-h5n1-h1n08-h5n8-h5n6-h5n3-tracking-outbreaks-spread/749462-flutrackers-2016-global-h5n1-human-cases-list[/url] or https://flutrackers.com/forum/forum/flutrackers-high-pathogenic-h5n1-h1n08-h5n8-h5n6-h5n3-tracking-outbreaks-spread/749462-flutrackers-2016-global-h5n1-human-cases-list For perspective [url]https://flutrackers.com/forum/forum/flutrackers-high-pathogenic-h5n1-h1n08-h5n8-h5n6-h5n3-tracking-outbreaks-spread/720310-flutrackers-2015-global-who-ministries-of-health-confirmed-h5n1-human-cases-list[/url] or https://flutrackers.com/forum/forum/flutrackers-high-pathogenic-h5n1-h1n08-h5n8-h5n6-h5n3-tracking-outbreaks-spread/720310-flutrackers-2015-global-who-ministries-of-health-confirmed-h5n1-human-cases-list the 2015 list with 145 cases 136 of them in Egypt.. [url]https://flutrackers.com/forum/forum/flutrackers-high-pathogenic-h5n1-h1n08-h5n8-h5n6-h5n3-tracking-outbreaks-spread/158653-flutrackers-2014-global-who-ministry-of-health-confirmed-h5n1-human-cases-list?amp;postcount=1[/url] or https://flutrackers.com/forum/forum/flutrackers-high-pathogenic-h5n1-h1n08-h5n8-h5n6-h5n3-tracking-outbreaks-spread/158653-flutrackers-2014-global-who-ministry-of-health-confirmed-h5n1-human-cases-list?amp;postcount=1 the 2014 list has 60 human cases (also most in Egypt)... So how good are present H5(N1) statistics...Also H5N6, H5N8 [url]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influenza_A_virus_subtype_H5N6[/url] or https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influenza_A_virus_subtype_H5N6 and [url]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influenza_A_virus_subtype_H5N8[/url] or https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influenza_A_virus_subtype_H5N8 made news... A risk is mixing of different flu types resulting in a new type of flu that can spread more easily H2H...it is a ticking time bomb.. |
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We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
~Albert Einstein |
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