First case of highly pathogenic avian influenza transmitted from cow to human confirmed

www.sciencedaily.com

In March a farm worker who reported no contact with sick or dead birds, but who was in contact with dairy cattle, began showing symptoms in the eye and samples were collected by the regional health department to test for potential influenza A. Experts have now confirmed the first case of highly pathogenic avian influenza transmission from a mammal (dairy cow) to a human.

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And suddenly half of America became extremely passionate about "natural", untreated milk.
- Oh, they were already there. Someone I know who regularly bumps into the raw milk people was recently telling me he was surprised just how many of them are huge Trump supporters. They were ranting to him about how this is just another hoax and that they aren't scared.
  Probably has something to do with the crunchy to alt right pipeline, if I had to guess.
  
  That pipeline is so damn real.
  I've had occasion to buy raw milk to test making different cheeses (that hobby didn't last long enough to produce much cheese, sadly). This would have been before Trump was a big thing in politics, but I swear every person I met there was a damn tea party nut.
Okay, stay with me here. What if this time we put the vaccine in the ivermectin?
- And put the ivermectin in the bleach?
  I think we might be onto something.
  
  You put the bleach in the coconut..
  
  Hawkins: I've got it! I've got it! The pellet with the poison's in the vessel with the pestle; the chalice from the palace has the brew that is true! Right? Griselda: Right. But there's been a change: they broke the chalice from the palace! Hawkins: They *broke* the chalice from the palace? Griselda: And replaced it with a flagon. Hawkins: A flagon...? Griselda: With the figure of a dragon. Hawkins: Flagon with a dragon. Griselda: Right. Hawkins: But did you put the pellet with the poison in the vessel with the pestle? Griselda: No! The pellet with the poison's in the flagon with the dragon! The vessel with the pestle has the brew that is true! Hawkins: The pellet with the poison's in the flagon with the dragon; the vessel with the pestle has the brew that is true. Griselda: Just remember that.
- Put the vaccine in raw milk
"It's a huge thing that the virus has jumped from birds to mammals, dairy cows in this case, and then to humans," Presley said.
I just don’t get why transmission to humans is considered a question. Transmissions to mammals is happening. We are mammals. We aren’t special. We need to stop acting like we’re something different so leopards don’t eat our stupid faces.
I don’t question that the quoted person knows what they are talking about, but that quote perpetuates the idea that H5N1 is a long shot when we already have people playing freedom about milk.
- Mammals are not identical and there are a ton of diseases that do affect multiple species and a lot more that don't.
  Opossums rarely, if ever, get rabies. Bats tend to get diseases without suffering from them, but are great incubators for diseases to mutate so they can spread to other mammals. Feline lukemia is extremely contagious between cats, but has never spread to humans.
  It is not that humans are special, but that diseases are not universally transmitted between species.
  This is a big deal because the bird to cow to human transmission doesn't have a precedent. No scientist who studies disease thinks transmission is impossible, since diseases can mutate.
- there are hundreds of diseases that exist in mammals like dogs and bats which do not transmit to humans. when a new one does, it's a big deal, all the time, every time. especially one that has crossed the taxonomic bridge from avians to mammals. for fucks sake.
  
  Of course it’s a big deal. But H5N1 has transmitted already between multiple mammals (https://www.aphis.usda.gov/livestock-poultry-disease/avian/avian-influenza/hpai-detections/mammals , but you already know that stuff I think).
  The phrasing in the quote, in my opinion, gives countless people the wrong idea of human uniqueness in this situation.
- I fully agree, but I also grew up around religion, so... humans gonna get their face eaten.
- There have been almost 1000 confirmed H5N1 cases in humans over the past 20 years, and over that time it's infected many different mammals. What's different this time is the virulent cattle-to-cattle transmission happening in the US. A human catching it from close contact with an infected animal is not unusual
On the plus side we already have a vaccine for this one, and we have a known medical treatment for it that should work well.
It sucks but this was one we were actually preparing for and expecting to eventually happen.
- Something something MICROCHIPS something FLYING SPAGHETTI MONSTER
- We have a vaccine for COVID too...
  
  There's a difference here.
  We have a vaccine.
  We eventually had a vaccine.
- We were also fully expecting SARS COVID diseases based on the previous epidemics, so preparation doesn't do much if people intentionally undermine it.
Here we go again....
- Don't worry I am sure we have learned from past experiences....
  
  Well, they say a good laugh prolongs your life, thank you.
Imagine how fun it is going to be when DJT gets reelected, followed by H5N1 developing human to human transmission capabilities.
- No thanks.
Get ready for every knuckle-dragging moron to become a medical expert, and to call you a sheep for listening to an actual doctor.
Fuck.
As long as we exploit animals, we will have zoonotic diseases. Kind of deserved at this point.
- Yes, but also happens naturally to some extent as well.
I wonder if the CDC's global rapid response team will respond to this?
Here we go again..

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