The Dutch government on ​Wednesday ordered farmers ‌across the country to keep poultry ​indoors following ​three reported birdflu outbreaks ⁠in recent ​days.

We generated an mRNA vaccine that expresses the hemagglutinin (HA) of A/dairy cattle/Texas/24-008749-002/2024, which is representative of HPAI clade 2.3.4.4b H5N1 viruses currently circulating in dairy cattle in the USA4. We vaccinated four lactating dairy cows intramuscularly with 500 μg of H5 mRNA–LNP in saline and then boosted intramuscularly with the same vaccine dose 3 weeks later (Fig. 1a). As a control, we intramuscularly injected four additional lactating cows twice with saline (Fig. 1a). Animals in our study were obtained from an HPAI-monitored Holstein dairy herd in Pennsylvania and ranged from 2 to 8 years of age (Supplementary Table 1). We collected serum samples at 0, 7, 21, 28, 41 and 49 days after the initial vaccination and collected milk samples daily. Both unvaccinated and vaccinated animals were challenged with infectious clade 2.3.4.4b H5N1 virus through intramammary inoculation 49 days after the first vaccination. The vaccine was well tolerated, with no obvious adverse effects. Previous studies found trace amounts of vaccine-related mRNA in human milk in some individuals shortly after SARS-CoV-2 mRNA–LNP vaccination18,19,20. Therefore, we completed experiments to determine whether we could detect H5 mRNA–LNP in bovine milk samples obtained after vaccination. First, we established a sensitive quantitative PCR assay...

The Dutch government on ​Wednesday ordered farmers ‌across the country to keep poultry ​indoors following ​three reported birdflu outbreaks ⁠in recent ​days.

An analysis of US enteric fever cases found that most travel-associated cases were not susceptible to the first-line antibiotic treatment, researchers with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported this week in JAMA Network Open. Enteric fever, which encompasses both typhoid and paratyphoid fever, is typically transmitted via food or water contaminated with Salmonella Typhi or Paratyphi bacteria and can be deadly if not treated promptly with antibiotics. Nearly 8 million enteric fever cases occur globally each year, but only a small fraction of those cases (5,700) occur in the United States, and they’re typically linked to travel to countries where typhoid and paratyphoid fever are endemic, such as India and Pakistan. With new patterns of antibiotic resistance emerging globally, particularly in Pakistan, where an extensively drug-resistant (XDR) strain of Salmonella Typhi was identified in 2016, the researchers wanted to analyze US cases for antimicrobial-resistance trends. “Because resistance can evolve quickly, surveillance is important to detect emerging resistance, track trends, and guide clinical and public health decision-making,” they wrote. Empiric treatment ‘should avoid fluoroquinolones’ Using data from the National Typhoid and Paratyphoid Fever Surveillance system and bacterial samples from the National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System (NARMS), the researchers...

Vultures do something nobody else will. They eat what is already dead, often rotten, often crawling with pathogens that would kill most other animals. Their remarkable ability to survive exposure to many dangerous pathogens makes them indispensable to healthy ecosystems. Without vultures, carcasses accumulate, bacteria spread, disease moves up the food chain. They are, in a real sense, the biological sanitation system of the terrestrial world. Now the world’s vultures are facing something their natural defenses cannot reliably protect them against. A recently published letter warns that the H5N1 avian influenza virus poses a catastrophic threat to vulture populations already thinned by poisoning, habitat loss, and persecution. Vultures were already in trouble At least 16 of the world’s 23 vulture species are already of conservation concern. The California condor has fewer than 600 individuals alive, including those in captivity. The Andean condor ranges across a continent but in decreasing numbers. Griffon vultures in southern Europe were considered a conservation success story. None of this provides any buffer against H5N1. The scale of what has already happened is sobering. Thousands of American black vultures and turkey vultures have died across the United States and South America. In southern Europe, the 2022...

Dead wild goose recovered in northeastern Miyagi prefecture on Tuesday tests positive for avian influenza virus in preliminary test | Anadolu

Dead wild goose recovered in northeastern Miyagi prefecture on Tuesday tests positive for avian influenza virus in preliminary test | Anadolu

Watch the 7-minute Animal Disease Monitoring Update, download the free 6-page bird flu assessment and open the live map of official reports.

Community pharmacies may be key to preventing people exposed to the rabies virus from developing the fatal neurologic disease. Spread through the bites and scratches of mammals, rabies is preventable if people get the post-exposure vaccine before clinical symptoms appear. The first shot of the four-dose series is often given at an emergency department (ED), followed by doses administered on days three, seven, and 14. Needing so many shots can be burdensome, and some patients skip later doses, increasing the odds of the virus entering their central nervous system and killing them. But a study published yesterday in the American Journal of Infection Control found that when a health system in the Appalachian Highlands gave people the option to get subsequent doses at a community pharmacy, the percentage of patients who completed their rabies vaccine series rose from 49.6% to 53.1%. The statistically significant, though modest, bump is more consequential when considering that 80% of patients who used community pharmacies completed their rabies vaccine series, compared with just 47.9% of those who chose to get their subsequent shots at the ED. "Unnecessary ED visits increase costs for patients and strain ED providers and systems," said the authors, led by Jeffrey...

A severe H5N1 bird flu outbreak on a commercial mink farm in Utah raised global public health concerns over potential viral mutations. Infectious disease experts warned that continuous viral circulation among captive mammal populations could enable genetic adaptations harmful to humans. Scientists highlighted that cellular receptors in mink respiratory tracts closely resemble human lung receptors, making them ideal biological hosts for viral evolution. Consequently, rapid transmission across high-density animal farms increases the probability of airborne mutations capable of infecting humans. Therefore, global health organizations urge immediate implementation of rigorous biological containment protocols. Read More: Australia detects suspected bird flu case Regulatory gaps and administrative delays in the United States exacerbated containment difficulties across affected livestock facilities. Unlike poultry operations, where infected flocks face immediate culling and federal compensation, mink farms lack clear federal containment frameworks. Furthermore, state agricultural authorities hesitated to enforce mandatory culling or quarantine measures, leading to unchecked viral spread. Health advocates expressed alarm over the lack of compulsory health monitoring for farmworkers directly exposed to infected mink. Consequently, experts warn that unmonitored human exposures complicate early detection of potential cross-species transmission events. Health officials warned that simultaneous infections in farmworkers could trigger a dangerous viral phenomenon known...

Five dead barnacle geese found on Sunday by Lake Jukajärvi in Juva, South Savo, have been sent for testing, Yle reports. The Finnish Food Authority will investigate their cause of death and check for avian influenza. The discovery is the second involving dead geese in eastern Finland this month. …

Bird flu has been spreading among mink on a Utah fur farm since at least mid-August, and state officials have not monitored or tested the people who work with the animals, according to a ProPublica investigation published Oct. 23. No human infection has been confirmed. The farm, C&T Fenn Farms, is about an hour's drive south of Salt Lake City. ProPublica found that the outbreak has run for more than two months without a cull of the animals, the response other countries have used when the same virus reached their fur farms. The risk to the general public in Utah remains low, according to state health officials. The broader concern is what the virus could become. Mink airways carry an abundance of the type of cell receptors found in human throats and noses, and flu scientists worry that a virus moving through crowded animals gets more chances to change in ways that help it infect people. A Timeline Built From Public Records Utah agriculture officials learned in mid-August that mink on the farm were dying of bird flu, according to state communications released under Utah's public records law. U.S. Department of Agriculture records show seven cases among captive mink in...

The signatories of a letter published in the journal Conservation Biology warn of the threat posed by avian flu to vulture populations. They also highlight the potential impact that the decline in vultures could have on ecosystems and human wellbeing. To address this situation, they propose five courses of action: to monitor vulture populations, implement vaccination campaigns, manage the carrion, establish protocols for handling vultures, and promote local action plans. Vultures are one of the most threatened group of birds in the world. Currently, at least 16 of the 23 species of vulture are of conservation concern, largely as a result of poisoning and other threats due to human activity. However, “they provide us with one of the most important ecosystem services for human wellbeing: they feed on decomposing animal carcasses, that harbour pathogens. It has been proven that scavengers help prevent or reduce the spread of pathogens. That is, they prevent disease-causing microorganisms from continuing to spread”, explains Jon Morant, researcher at the EHU-University of the Basque Country. The avian flu virus (H5N1), which caused the panzootic —the equivalent of a pandemic in animals—, is highly contagious and could lead to the collapse of vulture populations, which are already...

A bird flu outbreak at a Utah mink farm has raised questions about how state and federal officials handled the infections and whether workers exposed to sick animals were sufficiently protected. A ProPublica investigation, reported in October 2026, found that efforts to obtain federal assistance hit regulatory obstacles as the outbreak continued at a farm raising thousands of mink for fur. The report described concerns about the lack of worker monitoring and the decision not to cull infected animals. The findings have prompted questions about whether existing disease-control procedures adequately address infections in farmed mink, which can be susceptible to influenza viruses that infect both birds and mammals. The outbreak does not establish that people have been infected or that the virus is spreading between humans. However, people who handle sick animals face a higher risk of exposure, making worker protection and timely communication between animal health and public health officials key parts of the response. Mink Infections Raise Questions About Disease Control ProPublica reported that Utah state veterinarian Amanda Price's efforts to obtain federal assistance were complicated by the USDA's position that it did not regulate mink farms and had no vaccine approved for the animals. The investigation also...

Emerging and re-emerging zoonotic diseases pose significant threats to human and animal health, biodiversity and livelihoods across Africa. Recent outbreaks of Ebola disease, mpox, Marburg virus disease, anthrax and Rift Valley fever highlight the importance of strengthening wildlife surveillance and early warning systems to detect and respond to health threats before they spread. To support these efforts, FAO with Gorilla Doctors will bring together wildlife surveillance officers, veterinary epidemiologists and animal health professionals from 12 African countries. The training will strengthen national capacities to detect, investigate and respond to emerging and re-emerging zoonotic diseases through a One Health approach, recognizing the interconnected health of people, wildlife, livestock, plants and ecosystems. Combining theoretical sessions with hands-on field exercises at Queen Elizabeth National Park and the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) Diagnostic and Research Laboratory, participants will develop practical skills in wildlife disease surveillance, safe animal capture and handling, sample collection, biosafety and biosecurity, outbreak investigation and disease reporting. The training will focus on priority zoonotic diseases, including Ebola, mpox, Marburg virus disease, anthrax and Rift Valley fever, with particular emphasis on improving early detection and coordinated responses at the human–animal–ecosystem interface. The workshop aims to: Strengthen understanding of emerging and re-emerging zoonotic...

Bird flu viruses are a particular threat to humans because they can replicate at temperatures higher than a typical fever, one of the body's ways of stopping viruses in their tracks, according to new ...

The first genetic analysis of H5N1 bird flu on a Utah mink farm shows the virus is B3.13, the strain that has circulated in U.S. dairy cattle since 2024. All 10 sequenced mink samples also carried a mutation previously seen in Spain's 2022 mink outbreak, according to a preliminary report posted Oct. 22 by researchers at the National Institutes of Health, the UK's Pirbright Institute and France's CNRS. The report states there are currently no plans to cull the infected mink. A day later, a ProPublica investigation reported that the outbreak had continued for more than two months at C&T Fenn Farms, and that officials had neither ordered a cull nor actively monitored workers. On Oct. 23, the CDC's weekly FluView report also confirmed that a Washington dairy worker's infection was H5N1, the first H5 case tied to a dairy worker in that state. For the general public, the risk remains low, and the CDC says no human-to-human spread of H5 bird flu has been identified in the United States. The concern is narrower but real — mink can catch both bird flu and human seasonal flu, so every week of uncontrolled spread on a crowded farm gives the virus...

Federal officials brushed off the issue as Utah prioritized the fur industry’s interests. Little has been done to stop the spread of the virus and ensure it can’t spread to humans, a failure that expe...

Bird flu has been spreading for more than two months on a Utah mink farm, and federal and state officials have not culled the animals, vaccinated them or put the farm under a formal quarantine, according to ProPublica reporting published October 23. It is the first documented outbreak of its kind in the United States, according to the Animal Welfare Institute. What officials have said ProPublica reported that Utah agriculture officials learned of the deaths in mid-August and that the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s dashboard showed seven captive mink had tested positive. The outbreak is on C&T Fenn Farms, a mink fur farm west of Provo, ProPublica reported. Sick mink carry the same strain that has spread through dairy herds, and officials told ProPublica they did not know whether contaminated beef caused the infections. Records from the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food show seven avian influenza cases among captive mink, according to a Utah News Dispatch report carried by KSL on October 3. The department said its data may be incomplete. A public records request by the Animal Welfare Institute found the farm expected to lose about 80% of its mink, KSL reported. Leon Page, a department public information...