The World Health Organization confirmed the first human death linked to avian influenza in Mexico, involving a 59-year-old with no prior history of handling poultry or other animals. This comes as bird flu has been spreading across North America and other regions of the world, infecting various types of animals and humans.
"On 23 May 2024, the Mexico International Health Regulations (IHR) National Focal Point (NFP) reported to PAHO/WHO a confirmed fatal case of human infection with avian influenza A(H5N2) virus detected in a resident of the State of Mexico who was hospitalized in Mexico City.
"This is the first laboratory-confirmed human case of infection with an influenza A(H5N2) virus reported globally and the first avian H5 virus infection in a person reported in Mexico. Although the source of exposure to the virus in this case is currently unknown, A(H5N2) viruses have been reported in poultry in Mexico. According to the IHR (2005), a human infection caused by a novel influenza A virus subtype is an event that has the potential for high public health impact and must be notified to the WHO. Based on available information, WHO assesses the current risk to the general population posed by this virus as low." -WHO
The WHO's statement continued:
"... confirmed case of human infection with avian influenza A(H5N2) virus detected in a 59-year-old resident of the State of Mexico who was hospitalized in Mexico City and had no history of exposure to poultry or other animals. The case had multiple underlying medical conditions. The case's relatives reported that the case had already been bedridden for three weeks, for other reasons, prior to the onset of acute symptoms."
Earlier Wednesday, Dutch virologist Dr. Marion Koopmans wrote on X, "The expanding list of wild mammals affected by the (global) epizootic of highly pathogenic avian influenza. This data is for the US. Adding mice to the list (the blue circle in New Mexico)."
Koopmans also published a USDA map showing bird flu detections in an ever-expanding list of mammals.
STAT News recently spoke with Dutch virologist Ron Fouchier, a leading expert on the bird flu, who provided some insight into the outbreak:
"You have massive outbreaks in wild birds. It spreads over into poultry quite easily. But in humans we see lower numbers, and that to me suggests that the zoonotic risk has decreased."
Meanwhile, Nita Madhav, a former US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention researcher who is now senior director of epidemiology and modeling at Ginkgo Biosecurity, warned Scientific American, "The more it spreads within mammals, that gives it more chances to mutate. As it mutates, as it changes, there is a greater chance it can infect humans. If it gains the ability to spread efficiently from person to person, then it would be hard to stop."
About a week ago, news broke the Biden Administration was nearing a deal to bankroll Moderna's vaccine against bird flu.
Remember Deborah Birx, a physician who served as former President Trump's Covid response coordinator? Well, she said earlier today about weekly testing of the nation's cattle herd population.
"We should be testing every cow weekly," Birx said, adding, "We could be pool testing every dairy worker."
Deborah Birx says we must test every cow in America (on a weekly basis) for bird flu.
— Jordan Schachtel @ dossier.today (@JordanSchachtel) June 5, 2024
"We should be testing every cow, weekly," Birx says adding, "we could be pool testing every dairy worker."
There are around 40 million cows in the United States.
Trust the science! pic.twitter.com/0xnCAE0T9e
Jordan Schachtel notes...
Much more detail on why Deborah Birx may stand to gain from a manufactured bird flu pandemic https://t.co/A7qAFSTiWX
— Jordan Schachtel @ dossier.today (@JordanSchachtel) June 5, 2024
The WHO's chief scientist, Jeremy Farrar, has recently said the bird flu amongst cows "is very concerning."
WHO chief "scientist" says cows are the main issue in a new bird flu virus spreading.
— Wall Street Silver (@WallStreetSilv) May 3, 2024
We know exactly what they're planning 🐄 🦠
They want to start ordering ranchers to cull millions of cattle so real meat prices skyrocket and nobody except Davos can afford to eat meat.
🔊 pic.twitter.com/hj9L3tn2SH
In recent notes, we penned "The Escalating Threat Of Avian Influenza H5N1 And The Ethical Quandary Of Gain-of-Function Research" and "Former CDC Director Sounds Alarm Over Bird Flu Experiments."
The question arises: if human-to-human cases surge and it's clear that the WHO's focus for this pandemic is cows, what actions will the government be forced to take regarding these animals? However, don't worry—if cows are culled to save the planet from bird flu, Bill Gates will be ready to offer cricket burgers and fake meat New York strips.
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