Stalin
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Apr 4, 2008
- Messages
- 2,718
A really good time to dismantle the public health system - this lethal virus has crossed over from birds to cattle
"..Over the past week, a series of developments have reaffirmed the imminent danger of a highly pathogenic avian influenza (H5N1 “bird flu”) pandemic, for which American and world capitalism are wholly unprepared. Historically, bird flu has had a 50 percent fatality rate among humans. Were such a pathogenic variant to begin spreading through society, the crisis could quickly dwarf that of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which has so far killed nearly 30 million people and debilitated over 400 million more with Long COVID.
The latest such development took place on Friday, when New York Governor Kathy Hochul ordered the temporary closure, cleaning, and disinfection of all live bird markets in New York City, as well as in Westchester, Suffolk and Nassau Counties. The order came after bird flu was detected in seven birds at markets in Queens, the Bronx, and Brooklyn during the past week.
This followed the Monday issuance of an advisory to all health institutions in the state by the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) and New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (NYCDOHMH) recommending “accelerated subtyping of Influenza A in hospitalized patients,” as part of a belated attempt to detect cases of bird flu. The advisory, issued over two weeks after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a nearly identical statement on January 16, suggests that any patient hospitalized and found to have influenza A should have the culture tested for bird flu within 24 hours of their positive test.
The US is presently mired in its worst flu season since 2009, with New York and 42 other states experiencing “High” or “Very High” levels of respiratory illnesses, including the flu, COVID-19, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). The CDC estimates that there have been at least 24 million illnesses from the flu alone, causing 310,000 hospitalizations and 13,000 deaths so far this season.
Over the past year, scientists have continuously warned of the dangers that patients co-infected with seasonal flu and bird flu could facilitate a reassortment of genes between the viruses, with bird flu evolving to become transmissible between humans. Given the minimal testing for bird flu to date, this could very well be taking place under the radar of public health authorities.
Another critical development came on Wednesday, when the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) released data indicating that the more dangerous D1.1 genotype of bird flu is now spreading among at least six dairy herds in Nevada. This is the same genotype which recently killed an elderly man in Louisiana and placed a teenager on life support in British Columbia.
Researchers studying the D1.1 strain are concerned with how quickly it is assuming dominance among cattle. They are still trying to determine its capabilities and to ascertain why it is spreading so fast and behaving aggressively. With hundreds of thousands of farm workers interacting with animals in the US poultry and dairy industry, the danger of spillover of this lethal strain could grow quickly in the weeks and months ahead..."
comrade stalin
moscow
"..Over the past week, a series of developments have reaffirmed the imminent danger of a highly pathogenic avian influenza (H5N1 “bird flu”) pandemic, for which American and world capitalism are wholly unprepared. Historically, bird flu has had a 50 percent fatality rate among humans. Were such a pathogenic variant to begin spreading through society, the crisis could quickly dwarf that of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which has so far killed nearly 30 million people and debilitated over 400 million more with Long COVID.
The latest such development took place on Friday, when New York Governor Kathy Hochul ordered the temporary closure, cleaning, and disinfection of all live bird markets in New York City, as well as in Westchester, Suffolk and Nassau Counties. The order came after bird flu was detected in seven birds at markets in Queens, the Bronx, and Brooklyn during the past week.
This followed the Monday issuance of an advisory to all health institutions in the state by the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) and New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (NYCDOHMH) recommending “accelerated subtyping of Influenza A in hospitalized patients,” as part of a belated attempt to detect cases of bird flu. The advisory, issued over two weeks after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a nearly identical statement on January 16, suggests that any patient hospitalized and found to have influenza A should have the culture tested for bird flu within 24 hours of their positive test.
The US is presently mired in its worst flu season since 2009, with New York and 42 other states experiencing “High” or “Very High” levels of respiratory illnesses, including the flu, COVID-19, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). The CDC estimates that there have been at least 24 million illnesses from the flu alone, causing 310,000 hospitalizations and 13,000 deaths so far this season.
Over the past year, scientists have continuously warned of the dangers that patients co-infected with seasonal flu and bird flu could facilitate a reassortment of genes between the viruses, with bird flu evolving to become transmissible between humans. Given the minimal testing for bird flu to date, this could very well be taking place under the radar of public health authorities.
Another critical development came on Wednesday, when the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) released data indicating that the more dangerous D1.1 genotype of bird flu is now spreading among at least six dairy herds in Nevada. This is the same genotype which recently killed an elderly man in Louisiana and placed a teenager on life support in British Columbia.
Researchers studying the D1.1 strain are concerned with how quickly it is assuming dominance among cattle. They are still trying to determine its capabilities and to ascertain why it is spreading so fast and behaving aggressively. With hundreds of thousands of farm workers interacting with animals in the US poultry and dairy industry, the danger of spillover of this lethal strain could grow quickly in the weeks and months ahead..."
Trump’s assault on public health and the growing threat of an H5N1 bird flu pandemic
Over the past week, a series of developments have reaffirmed the imminent danger of an H5N1 “bird flu” pandemic, for which American and world capitalism are wholly unprepared.
www.wsws.org
comrade stalin
moscow
