#pandemic

www.foodingredientsfirst.com

EFSA urges stronger biosecurity as bird flu risks challenge poultry supply resilience

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www.cidrap.umn.edu

Local, state public health officials overwhelmingly faced serious backlash during pandemic, report reveals

Women experienced more backlash than men, with 61% of female public health officials reporting extraordinary backlash, compared with 44% of men. “We wanted to understand what it was like at the local level across the country and how it varied,” Moser Jones said, adding they also hoped to gain insight into how people coped with a “once-in-a-generation” pandemic. Some managed by leaving their positions and moving to a different city. Multiple public health officers “had to move across the country to different jobs and different locations because of safety concerns,” Moser Jones said. “They basically couldn’t go out to the grocery store, to the movies, to dinner with their spouses without risking being harassed or threatened. And that’s a sad state of affairs.” Yet, some public health officials received support. Some lived in areas with supportive police departments that took their concerns seriously. Moser Jones recalls an anecdote about a local sheriff who went out of his way to protect a female public health official who received “really crude sexualizing threats.” Some public health officials asked protesters to “take it down a few notches,” which sometimes reduced harassment. “There were other people who would go out to the protesters and...

www.kpax.com

State veterinarian shares details on bird flu in the Bitterroot - KPAX News

BITTERROOT VALLEY — Last week, bird flu was detected in a commercial flock of chickens in Ravalli County. Tahnee Szymanski, Montana's state veterinarian, tells MTN this is associated with waterfowl migration. "Over the last 30 days in the U.S., the Dakotas, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Idaho, and now Montana have all had detections, which were kind of all in right the same band of latitude across the U.S. And so it's just that time of year when we know that the risk of HPI [Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza] seems to come up," Szymanski said. WATCH: Bird flu detected in Ravalli County commercial chicken flock State veterinarian shares details on bird flu in the Bitterroot Szymanski notes that wild waterfowl can carry the flu without being impacted by symptoms. Those birds often spread the virus by releasing fluids into shared water sources or food supplies. "Additionally, the virus is capable of surviving for a period of time. And so even if the birds are relatively confined, and a person goes out and goes into a contaminated environment, they could potentially move that virus back to their coop," Szymanski shared. In Ravalli County, the illness was detected in an egg-producing flock that lives near...

www.abc.net.au

Dead humpback whale tested for bird flu after washing up on beach - ABC News & Headlines

Authorities have tested a dead whale for bird flu after the mammal floated ashore at a popular beach on the Sunshine Coast. The 6.7-metre juvenile humpback carcass washed up on the sand between Alexandra Headland and Maroochydore late yesterday afternoon. An exclusion zone was set up and the animal was left on the beach overnight. Sunshine Coast Council Mayor Rosanna Natoli said authorities managed to remove the whale at high tide, at about 5:30am today. "We did need to wait for the high tide to be able to tow it and do that carefully — also before the animal begins to decompose," she said. A team on the beach wearing hazmat suits shot a flare with a tow rope to a boat waiting about 100 metres offshore. The boat then connected the rope to its hull, before the people onshore tied the other end of the rope around the whale's tail. The carcass will be towed 20 nautical miles, or 37 kilometres, out to sea. Cr Natoli said the whale displayed no obvious cause of death and has been tested for avian influenza. "Samples have been taken to try to work out the cause of death and what has happened...

www.independent.co.uk

'Huge' cuts in malaria funding will hurt UK pandemic planning, leading scientists say

An “almost unprecedented” scaling back of funding for malaria science will harm the UK’s preparedness for future pandemics, leading scientists say. Research targeting malaria has “spillover” effects that improve responses to wider health threats, according to experts polled for the first report of its kind. The Malaria Science Index, a survey of the UK’s top researchers in the field, is published as world leaders meet in New York for a high-level meeting on pandemic preparedness alongside the United Nations General Assembly on Friday. Some 80 per cent of respondents said they believed malaria science provided health benefits to the UK public, with the same proportion saying they thought it made the UK safer. Heather Ferguson, professor of infectious disease ecology at the University of Glasgow, surveyed for the report, said: “Environmental changes are bringing mosquito-borne diseases much closer to home, and our ability to respond to these risks in the UK is strengthened by the training British scientists have from working shoulder-to-shoulder with experts in endemic countries. “The technologies and tools we have developed together are not only protecting children’s lives in Africa, but will help us protect and respond to similar risks in the UK,” she added. Professor Ferguson...

www.youtube.com

See Which State Reports Covid And Flu Are Increasing Rapidly

YouTube video by Data Report

mastodon.social

Original post on mastodon.social

apnews.com

Congo begins Ebola vaccinations for health workers in the epicenter of the outbreak

Congo has begun vaccinating healthcare staff against Ebola in Bunia, the epicenter of the fastest-growing outbreak of the disease in history.