Reading Time: < 1 minute Geneva | Reuters — The risk of human-to-human spread of the H5N8 strain of bird flu appears low after it was identified for the first time worldwide in farm workers in Russia, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday. A separate influenza strain, H1N1, that emerged from pigs and spread rapidly worldwide among humans […] Read more
Risk of human spread of H5N8 bird flu deemed low
Seven people infected but asymptomatic, WHO says
Proliferation of bird flu outbreaks raises pandemic risk
Reading Time: 4 minutes London | Reuters — The global spread of bird flu and the number of viral strains currently circulating and causing infections have reached unprecedented levels, raising the risk of a potential human outbreak, according to disease experts. Multiple outbreaks have been reported in poultry farms and wild flocks across Europe, Africa and Asia in the […] Read more
H5N8 avian flu found in Indiana
Reading Time: 3 minutes Reuters — A strain of avian flu that until now had been found only in the western U.S. has cropped up in Indiana, bringing the total number of states affected by the virulent outbreak to 15, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said Monday. The eastward spread of any strain of the highly contagious H5 virus […] Read more
H5N8-positive wild duck found in B.C.
Reading Time: < 1 minute Ongoing surveillance of Canada’s wild birds has turned up the country’s first-ever case of highly pathogenic H5N8 avian flu, in a duck carcass at a British Columbia bird sanctuary. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency on Friday reported the case to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), noting such a detection in wild birds “should […] Read more
Canada expands blocks on U.S. poultry, eggs
Reading Time: 2 minutes Canada’s avian flu-related ban on imports of poultry, birds and eggs from Washington and Oregon has been expanded to include the same products from California and Idaho. The ban was expanded after outbreaks of avian flu in poultry in the past week in both states, including a backyard flock of chickens in Idaho infected with […] Read more
California turkey farm quarantined after H5N8 detected
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters –– A California turkey farm has been quarantined after confirmation of the first case of an outbreak of the highly pathogenic H5N8 avian influenza strain in the Pacific Northwest, and in a commercial flock, the U.S. government said. The news on Saturday came just weeks after China banned U.S. poultry after an […] Read more
Canada blocks poultry, eggs from U.S. Northwest
Reading Time: 2 minutes Birds, eggs and poultry products from Washington and Oregon are being kept out of Canada after findings of high-path avian flu in a pair of backyard flocks in those states. The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Dec. 24 reported highly pathogenic (“high-path”) H5N2 avian flu in a backyard free-range flock of geese, turkeys, chickens, ducks […] Read more
Britain confirms H5N8 in ducks on farm in north
Reading Time: 2 minutes London | Reuters — Bird flu on a duck farm in northern England is the highly contagious H5N8 strain, the same form of the virus already discovered in Germany and the Netherlands, Britain’s farm ministry confirmed on Tuesday. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said that the risk to humans was minimal, […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
