Bird flu seems to be surging again

Aren't you glad that Bobby Jr. cancelled federal funding for bird flu vaccine research?

Stephanie Soucheray, MA

The US Department of Agriculture's (USDA's) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) announced another flurry of highly pathogenic avian flu detections in waterfowl and other wild birds from across the country. 

APHIS also reported that a black bear in Larimer County, Colorado, was infected with a Eurasian H5 avian flu strain.

Six Canada geese in Campaign County, Illinois, died from H5N1, as did six Canada geese found in Kent County, Michigan. A swan in Shelby County, Missouri, was also recorded. 

New York’s Genesee County had 10 H5 detections, in mallards, wood ducks, and green-winged teal. All New York birds were hunter harvested. 

The Onion

In Colorado, four counties, including Rio Grande and Alamosa, reported H5 identifications in ducks. South Dakota confirmed H5N1 in a gull in Minnehaha County and in a Canada goose in Codington County.

A late-fall surge in avian flu activity has become seasonal in North America, as migratory waterfowl fly south for the winter. But several scientists are worried that the current government shutdown will only make surveillance that much more difficult in the coming weeks. 

The New York Times reported that the National Animal Laboratory Health Network, which is coordinated by the USDA, has a suspended its weekly calls during the shutdown. Those calls had allowed labs to share information. 

Officials tell zoo visitors in Canada to get tested 

Last week visitors to the Butterfield Acres Petting Farm in Alberta, Canada, were told to watch for symptoms of avian flu after nine poultry at the farm contracted the virus. 

Now the Alberta Health Services (AHS) Agency has confirmed it has invited 17 people, including 10 children, to get tested for avian flu and to watch for symptoms including conjunctivitis (pink eye), fever, and body aches.