Avial influence is hitting the United States hard. Now, migratory birds fly north

Avial influence is in a dangerous point in the United States: almost 167 million birds were impact From the H5N1 voltage since 2022 and 70 people have been infected. Now, birds are flying for the spring migration season.

A snow goose near Montreal, a large cornic owl in the south -ovest of the Ontario, a Canadian goose in Langley, AC – These are just some of the wild birds that have recently proved positive for H5n1 in Canada. But scientists are preparing more and are increasing their efforts to monitor and curb the virus this season.

This winter has seen multiple outbreaks of H5n1 than usual, said dr. Manon Racicot, a veterinary epidemiologist of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) in Saint-Hyacinthe, que.

“Now that the birds are returning north for migration, we don’t really know what is coming. The birds will still be infected? Will the virus in the environment in Canada come?”

Added to the concern of scientists: another strain of bird influenza, H7n9, was shown In a poultry farm in Mississippi, in the United States – a first since 2017. Although it is not the dominant type of bird influence that currently goes around the United States, H7N9 has a much higher mortality rate than H5N1, killing almost 40 % of infected humans since it was detected in 2013. The infected birds were killed and the premises were put in contact, he said state authorities.

A distance mutation

H5N1 also crossed the species and adapted to the hosts of the mammals. Animals such as seals, cats and dogs died after mixing with wild birds or eating raw pet food.

The dairy cows in the United States have fledged with droves, with 989 herds affected in 17 states, According to the Centers for the control and prevention of diseases.

Avial influence does not seem to be easily transmissible among people, for now. But the h5n1 strain that circulates in cows in the United States is only a mutation from being more transmissible between man, suggests a study Recently published in the journal Peer-Reviewed Science.

And when infected the man, the virus can be fatal. In January, an elderly man in Louisiana became the first human death linked to H5n1 in the United States

The only known case of Canada in H5n1 was confirmed two months earlier, in November: a teenager in British columbia that was hospitalized for two months. We still don’t know how infected it was.

In both cases, genetic analysis suggested the The virus had changed become more effective in the attacker to cells in the upper respiratory tract.

All this has scientists and doctors in alert.

“Frankly, a single case of avian flu is very worrying because we do not want that virus to adapt to humans,” said dr. Danuta Skowronski, epidemiologist at the BC Center for Disease Control (BCCDC).

“We all have the responsibility to close it as quickly as possible to contain it. This is a global effort. We are communicating globally with the United States, with the United Kingdom, with where we can guarantee the best possible knowledge.”

Extract from whom, climbing Rehire employees

With how much the disease is changing in the United States at this moment, it is essential that the American authorities continue to communicate with other countries and the World Health Organization (WHO), says Ian Brown, leader of Avial Influenza expert at the Pirbright Institute in the United Kingdom

But the Trump administration is bringing out the United States from WHO. He is also cutting funding and jobs in key agencies such as the National Institutes of Health.

“We know it’s a delicate situation. We know some of our colleagues, they could be at risk of not having a job,” said Brown.

These are the first days, he says, but it fears that there will be a reduction in the sharing of information between American scientists and international counterparts.

“The first signs are that the interaction that we have been used to having, successfully for many years, could now be compromised.”

There have already been false steps.

The Department of Agriculture has Refressed to stay Employees who work on the response to the influence of birds, after having eternally shot them during its rapid elimination of the federal workforce, on the recommendations of the Department of Efficiency of the Government of Elon Musk. They had problems bringing them back, Politician reported.

The WHO has already seen an impact on cuts for monitoring avian influence, ONid General Manager Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Monday.

Do the United States speak with Canada on avian influence?

Fortunately, however, the United States are returning the calls of Canada on human cases of bird influence, in particular among those who work with infected poultry or milk cattle, says Dr. Theresa Tam, Chief Public Health Health Officer of Canada.

“I think that it is public at all levels, it is trying to be very vigilant about cases in those different populations and we are sharing information on a continuous basis,” said Tam.

Canada is based on the United States to curb the virus effectively. From the point of view of animal health, for example, US and Canadian officials work together to monitor bird flywheel and keep an eye on wild and domestic birds, sharing mutations of concern, as well as approximate places of infected birds.

Also at the provincial level, the teams of British Columbia are holding close contacts with counterparties in states such as Washington, Oregon and Alaska, said Dr. Bonnie Henry, head of the provincial health of the BC.

“I think one of the things that helps us both the relationships we have, personal relationships”.

Canada also keeps an eye on our milk cows: the CFIA Try samples of raw milk that reaches the transformation plants. So far, all samples have returned negative to February 28th.

Learn from Covid-19

But both Tam and Henry underline: it is important to strengthen Canada’s monitoring and be prepared, especially in the event that the virus changes and becomes more transmissible among humans, which could trigger a pandemic.

These efforts include “increase monitoring and vigilance, laboratory tests, ensuring that any human case is studied,” said Tam.

BCCDC scientists are among the many in Canada who already do some of that preparatory work.

“Through the pandemic, we have learned a lot about the tools that public health can use to make their decisions,” said Linda Hoang, medical director of her public health laboratory.

The BCCDC is monitoring the mutations that could make H5N1 more adapted to humans, developing antibody tests to monitor human exposure and seek how the influence of birds is transmitted.

These are all information that could be fundamental for decision makers if the virus becomes more transmissible.

Henry says he is confident – even if there are temporary attacks of silence with American counterparts – that Canadian surveillance is strong enough to keep an overwhelming influence.