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Here’s a have a look at avian flu.
Avian influenza, additionally known as avian flu or chicken flu, is an sickness that often impacts solely birds.
There are many alternative strains of avian flu: 16 H subtypes and 9 N subtypes. Only these labeled H5, H7 and H10 have brought on deaths in people.
The mostly seen and most dangerous type of the virus is named “Influenza A (H5N1),” or the “H5N1 virus.”
Most circumstances of human chicken flu infections are as a result of contact with contaminated poultry or surfaces which might be contaminated with contaminated chicken excretions: saliva, nasal secretions or feces.
Symptoms of avian flu embody fever, cough, sore throat and typically extreme respiratory illnesses and pneumonia.
The CDC recommends oral oseltamivir (model identify: Tamiflu), inhaled zanamivir (model identify: Relenza) and intravenous permavir (model identify: Rapivab) for the remedy of human sickness related to avian flu. See additionally CDC’s Guidance on Prevention and Treatment.
As of May 17, 2024, the mortality rate is close to 50% for infected humans.
Early 1900s –The avian flu is first recognized in Italy.
1961 – The H5N1 pressure is remoted in birds in South Africa.
December 1983 – Chickens in Pennsylvania and Virginia are uncovered to the avian flu and greater than 5 million birds are killed to cease the illness from spreading.
1997 – Eighteen persons are contaminated by the H5N1 pressure in Hong Kong, six die. These are the primary documented circumstances of human an infection. Hong Kong destroys its total poultry inhabitants, 1.5 million birds.
1999 – Two youngsters in Hong Kong are contaminated by the H9N2 pressure.
February 2003 – Eighty-four individuals within the Netherlands are affected by the H7N7 pressure of the virus, one dies.
February 7, 2004 – Twelve thousand chickens are killed in Kent County, Delaware, after they’re discovered to be contaminated with the H7 virus.
October 7, 2005 – The avian flu reaches Europe. Romanian officers quarantine a village of about 30 individuals after three lifeless geese there check optimistic for chicken flu.
November 12, 2005 – A one-year-old boy in Thailand assessments optimistic for the H5N1 pressure of avian influenza.
November 16, 2005 – The World Health Organization confirms two human circumstances of chicken flu in China, together with a feminine poultry employee who died from the H5N1 pressure.
November 17, 2005 – Two deaths are confirmed in Indonesia from the H5N1 pressure of avian influenza.
January 1, 2006 – A Turkish teenager dies of the H5N1 pressure of avian influenza in Istanbul, and later that week, two of his sisters die.
January 17, 2006 – A 15-year-old woman from northern Iraq dies after contracting chicken flu.
February 20, 2006 – Vietnam turns into the primary nation to efficiently comprise the illness. A rustic is taken into account disease-free when no new circumstances are reported in 21 days.
March 12, 2006 – Officials in Cameroon affirm circumstances of the H5N1 pressure. The avian flu has now reached 4 African nations.
March 13, 2006 – The avian flu is confirmed by officers in Myanmar.
May 11, 2006 – Djibouti proclaims its first circumstances of H5N1 – a number of birds and one human.
December 20, 2011 – The US Department of Health and Human Services releases a press release saying that the federal government is urging scientific journals to omit particulars from analysis they intend to publish on the switch of H5N1 amongst mammals. There is concern that the knowledge could possibly be misused by terrorists.
July 31, 2012 – Scientists announce that H3N8, a brand new pressure of avian flu, brought on the loss of life of greater than 160 child seals in New England in 2011.
March 31, 2013 – Chinese authorities report the first human cases of infection of avian flu H7N9 to the World Health Organization. H7N9 has not beforehand been detected in people.
December 6, 2013 – A 73-year-old woman infected with H10N8 dies in China, the primary human fatality from this pressure.
January 8, 2014 – Canadian health officials confirm that a resident from Alberta has died from H5N1 avian flu, the first case of the virus in North America. It can be the primary case of H5N1 an infection ever imported by a traveler into a rustic the place the virus isn’t current in poultry.
April 20, 2015 – Officials say more than five million hens will be euthanized after bird flu was detected at a commercial laying facility in northwest Iowa. According to the US Department of Agriculture, near eight million circumstances of chicken flu have been detected in 13 states since December. Health officers say there’s little to no threat for transmission to people with respect to H5N2. No human infections with the virus have ever been detected.
January 15, 2016 – The US Department of Agriculture confirms {that a} industrial turkey farm in Dubois County, Indiana, has examined optimistic for the H7N8 pressure of avian influenza.
January 24, 2017 – Britain’s Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs releases a press release confirming that a case of H5N8 avian flu has been detected in a flock of farmed breeding pheasants in Preston, UK. The flock is estimated to comprise round 10,000 birds. The assertion provides that quite a few these birds have died, and the remaining dwell birds on the premises are being “humanely” killed due to the illness.
February 12, 2017 – Quite a few provinces in China have shut down their dwell poultry markets to forestall the unfold of avian flu after a surge within the variety of infections from the H7N9 pressure. At least six provinces have reported human circumstances of H7N9 influenza this yr, according to Chinese state media, Xinhua.
March 5-7, 2017 – The USDA confirms {that a} industrial chicken farm in Tennessee has tested positive for the H7N9 strain of avian flu, however says it’s genetically completely different from the H7N9 lineage out of China. The 73,500-bird flock in Lincoln County shall be euthanized, in keeping with Tyson Foods.
February 14, 2018 – Hong Kong’s Centre for Health Protection proclaims {that a} 68-year-old woman has been treated for the H7N4 strain. This is the primary case of this pressure in a human.
December 2019 – The United Kingdom Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs confirms {that a} case of H5N1 avian flu has been detected at a poultry farm in Suffolk. 27,000 birds are humanely killed due to the illness.
April 9, 2020 – The USDA confirms {that a} industrial turkey flock in Chesterfield County, South Carolina has examined optimistic for the H7N3 pressure of avian flu.
January 2021 – India culls tens of thousands of poultry birds after avian influenza is detected in geese, crows and wild geese in a minimum of a dozen areas throughout the nation.
February 18, 2021 – Russian authorities notify WHO that they’ve detected H5N8 in people. “If confirmed, this would be the first time H5N8 has infected people,” a WHO Europe spokesperson says in a statement.
June 1, 2021 – China’s National Health Commission proclaims the primary human case of H10N3.
February 2022 – The USDA confirms that wild birds and home poultry within the United States have examined optimistic for the H5N1 pressure of avian flu.
April 26, 2022 – China’s National Health Commission proclaims the primary human case of H3N8.
April 28, 2022 – The CDC announces a case of H5 bird flu has been confirmed in a man in Colorado.
March 25, 2024 – The USDA, FDA and CDC announce H5N1 has been recognized in US dairy cattle for the primary time. The virus has been confirmed in dairy cattle in 9 states.
May 3, 2024 – A brand new examine within the New England Journal of Medicine reveals a dairy employee was handled for chicken flu after working with dairy cattle in Texas. He appears to be the first known case of mammal-to-human transmission of the virus.
May 28, 2024 – The US Department of Agriculture’s National Veterinary Services Laboratories announces H5N1 has been confirmed in alpacas for the first time. The animals that examined optimistic have been on a farm in Idaho the place poultry had examined optimistic for the virus and have been culled in May.
November 22, 2024 – The CDC announces a case of H5 chicken flu has been confirmed in a toddler in California. This is the first reported case in the US of a child infected with H5 bird flu.
December 18, 2024 – The CDC confirms a patient in Louisiana has been hospitalized with a severe case of H5N1 bird flu, the first such case in the US. According to the CDC, the affected person was uncovered to sick and lifeless birds in yard flocks; this the primary US chicken flu case linked to a yard flock. In January 2025, it’s reported that the patient has died.
February 6, 2025 – Six dairy herds in Nevada test positive for a newer variant of the H5N1 bird flu virus that’s been related to extreme infections in people, in keeping with the Nevada Department of Agriculture. The pressure isn’t the identical one which has been circulating in different dairy herds all through the US, a virus known as B3.13. The newer model, D1.1, has beforehand been detected solely in birds and in individuals who had contact with contaminated birds.
May 28, 2025 – The US Department of Health and Human Services announces it is terminating a $590 million contract with drugmaker Moderna to develop a vaccine to guard in opposition to chicken flu amid the company’s broader efforts to reevaluate therapies that use mRNA know-how.
November 14, 2025 – The Washington State Health Department proclaims a hospitalized resident has examined optimistic for a strain of bird flu that has not been seen in humans before, H5N5.