All posts tagged: bird flu

If a bird flu pandemic starts, we may have an mRNA vaccine ready

If a bird flu pandemic starts, we may have an mRNA vaccine ready

Published by skeptic

A vaccine now in development could help in the event of a bird flu pandemic Weyo / Alamy It was roughly a year after the earliest cases of covid-19 before the first vaccines against the SARS-CoV-2 virus were ready for roll-out. By then millions had died worldwide and economies were devastated. In the advent of a bird flu pandemic, we will be able to react more rapidly, because we should have an mRNA vaccine already approved and ready to go. A phase III trial of a such a vaccine is now getting under way in the UK and the US. “A flu pandemic is the most likely future pandemic. And it’s really critical that we ensure we’re properly prepared,” says Richard Pebody at the UK Health Security Agency. The main threat is a strain of H5N1 bird flu called clade 2.3.4.4b. It has spread globally in wild birds since evolving around a decade ago, even reaching the Antarctic. Many wild mammals have been infected by wild birds and it has often spread to poultry farms. …

Gardeners must stop making 6 big mistakes or ‘birds will go elsewhere’ | UK | News

Gardeners must stop making 6 big mistakes or ‘birds will go elsewhere’ | UK | News

Published by Sam Flores

Gardening and bird watching often go hand-in-hand with the feathered visitors bringing joy to many a British home, but experts say there are six things to avoid if you want to attract more avians. According to Professor Donald K. Price, an ornithologist and professor of biology at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, birds are similar to humans in that they often seek somewhere with food, shelter and water in order to make a home. Professor Price told Good Housekeeping magazine: “If your yard doesn’t have anything to offer birds, they are likely to go somewhere else, to other yards, or into the open or wooded areas nearby.” Below are the professor’s tips on what to avoid if you want to attract more birds to your garden. It seems simple but if there is no food then birds will likely go elsewhere, either another garden or a wild place where they can find it. Food doesn’t have to be from a bird feeder, a variety of flowering plants and berry-producing trees and shrubs can still …

‘Bodies piling up’ as suspected bird flu kills dozens of UK swans | UK | News

‘Bodies piling up’ as suspected bird flu kills dozens of UK swans | UK | News

Published by Sam Flores

Authorities are investigating a suspected bird flu outbreak after discovering dozens of dead swans (stock) (Image: Getty) Authorities are reportedly investigating a suspected bird flu outbreak after discovering dozens of dead swans floating in waterways around London’s Canary Wharf financial district this weekend. The Canal and River Trust, which manages England and Wales’s historic canal network, logged 24 swan carcasses at West India and Millwall Docks on Saturday and Sunday alone, with additional birds had already been reported dead earlier in the week. Officials from the waterways charity are said to have alerted the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) to the mass die-off. Avian influenza is considered the most probable explanation, though testing has yet to confirm the cause. Members of the public have been told to call in sightings of deceased birds but warned against touching or retrieving the bodies. Setback after population rebound The sudden deaths mark a grim reversal for London’s swan community, which had only just begun bouncing back from years of decline. Last July’s annual census showed …

what 2026 might have in store

what 2026 might have in store

Published by Sam Flores

What are the biggest threats to global health security in 2026? Is it bird flu? Or the rising threat posed by nuclear weapons? Could we even be hit by an asteroid? Dr Becky Alexis-Martin, a Lecturer in Peace Studies at the University of Bradford and an expert on nuclear weapons, argues that the threat they pose will continue to rise in the new year. Paul Nuki, the Telegraph’s Global Health Security Editor, warns that numerous diseases linked to conflict are likely to continue to spread in 2026 – in particular cholera and HIV. Meanwhile, the possibility of H5N1 bird flu making the jump to humans and causing a pandemic remains a primary threat, as does the continued spread of mpox around the world. Lord Martin Rees, the former Astronomer Royal and a founder of the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk, assesses the risk of space-based threats. Source link

The US beat back bird flu in 2025 – but the battle isn’t over

The US beat back bird flu in 2025 – but the battle isn’t over

Published by skeptic

Millions of chickens have been culled due to the threat of bird flu Emily Elconin/Bloomberg via Getty Images The US experienced its first known bird flu deaths this year, igniting concerns that the virus could set off a pandemic in people. Nevertheless, it still reined in the outbreak enough to warrant ending its emergency response – but public health experts warn the battle is far from over. “It is still a pandemic in [non-human] animals,” says Meghan Davis at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland. “And the virus is no less deadly now than it was before.” The pathogen behind the vast majority of cases, a subtype of avian influenza called H5N1, first emerged in poultry in China in 1996. It then resurfaced in 2021, devastating global bird populations and spreading to several mammals, including foxes, seals and cats. H5N1 is poorly adapted to infecting humans and isn’t known to transmit between people. But it still poses a significant threat, having killed almost half of the nearly 1000 people known to have contracted it worldwide since …