H5N1 is in the news again, and this time it has spread to cattle in several U.S. states. It has even infected a dairy worker in Texas. Global health epidemiologist Raywat Deonandan explains how avian flu is spreading, how transmissible it is, what vaccines are available, and why we shouldn’t be too worried just yet.
Beef cattle farmer Raquel Kolof of Gibsons, B.C., says she’s extremely concerned about recent outbreaks of a dangerous form of bird flu — also known as highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) — in dairy farms across at least eight U.S. states.
Though she says protections are in place to prevent similar outbreaks from taking place north of the U.S. border, and there have been no confirmed cases of bird flu in Canadian cattle to date, she says she’s still worried “that it’s coming up here.”
“Cattle do move around … and 85 per cent of our beef market is handled in south Alberta, through massive, massive factories,” said Kolof, the owner and founder of Hough Heritage Farms. “They all conglomerate, they spread to each other and then it spreads from there.”
Despite that unease, experts say there’s no cause for alarm right now thanks to national food safety standards and steps being taken by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) to ensure that food producers adhere to necessary biosecurity measures.
What is bird flu?
HPAI is a strain of influenza that causes “severe disease and high mortality in infected poultry,” according to the U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
HPAI typically spreads between birds and has a high mortality rate for avian species, according to Genevieve Toupin, the national veterinary program manager with the CFIA, whose team is responsible for the agency’s ruminant and swine programs.
Genevieve Toupin is the national veterinary program manager with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. Her team is responsible for the agency’s ruminant and swine programs. (Submitted by Genevieve Toupin)
She says the virus currently infecting U.S. cattle is the same that’s been circulated by migratory birds flying along the Pacific-Central Flyway for approximately the past two years.
Thirty-two herds across eight U.S. states so far have been affected by HPAI infections since government agencies made the announcement almost four weeks ago. It’s still not clear how the virus is spreading to and between dairy cattle.
While the virus’s name implies it only affects birds, other animals — including mammals — can catch H5N1.
“In fact, we’ve detected H5N1 in polar bears, sea lions, penguins, foxes, and the presumption there is they’re getting it from eating dead birds,” said University of Ottawa global health epidemiologist Raywat Deonandan, speaking with Dr. Brian Goldman, host of The Dose.
Symptoms among infected cattle include a sudden decrease in milk production, thicker milk, decreases in appetite and dry manure or constipation, according to the CFIA.
Can humans catch bird flu?
Humans are susceptible to HPAI, though cases are rare and there has been no confirmed human-to-human transmission.
Since 2003, nearly 900 people worldwide have been infected with H5N1, according to the World Health Organization. Canada has seen only one confirmed case, in 2013.
Infection occurs if the virus gets into a person’s eyes, nose or mouth, or is inhaled, according to the CDC. Symptoms in humans resemble influenza, including cough, shortness of breath, fever and body aches.
In serious cases, people can experience severe respiratory illness, including difficulty breathing and pneumonia, as well as neurological changes, and multi-organ failure.
“It’s not the typical seasonal flu that we’re all used to,” said Deonandan.
“However, it’s important to keep in mind that there are likely instances of people getting it and not even knowing it, because their symptoms were so poor, in which case the actual fatality rate will drop considerably.”
Raywat Deonandan is a global health epidemiologist and associate professor at the University of Ottawa. (Submitted by Raywat Deonandan)
Some estimates suggest the true fatality rate for humans infected with bird flu is “probably around 14 per cent to 30 per cent,” he said.
“The person in Texas … reported eye redness, or conjunctivitis, as their only symptom and is recovering,” according to the CDC.
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This was only the second-ever recorded case of a human infected with bird flu in the U.S. The first was a Colorado inmate who caught the virus while working on a poultry farm as part of a pre-release employment program.
So far, nearly all human cases have been from direct contact with infected poultry, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada, with no evidence of any sustained transmission between people.
Deonandan says he’s especially worried about bird flu mutating, infecting a pig, and subsequently infecting a human in a form that would let it spread.
“What we’re concerned about is [bird flu] will share DNA with a flu that is adapted to live in humans and learn how to live in humans, in which case it will move from person to person, with presumably the same alacrity with which the seasonal flu moves from human to human,” he said.
How are food producers monitoring their livestock?
For her part, Kolof says she and other livestock producers already adhere to stringent safety standards to prevent the spread of infection and disease.
“One of the beauties of being a small-scale farmer is that I interact with my herd multiple times a day,” she said.
“I know and can see a change instantly.”
Hough Heritage Farms owner Raquel Kolof primarily raises beef cattle, but she also raises goats, sheep and pigs. (Submitted by Raquel Kolof)
Toupin with the CFIA says working with stakeholders across the farming industry to coordinate the national response.
Cattle farms are being advised not to introduce any new animals into a herd, and to quarantine new animals for 21 days just in case the animal is incubating disease.
Sask. scientists developing avian flu vaccines
A team of scientists in Saskatchewan are part of the global push to create vaccines for avian flu. They’re trying to protect birds now and humans later if the virus mutates.
Farmers should also minimize contact between livestock and wild birds.
“We’re monitoring the situation closely,” she said. “I think that it’s not something that we should worry too much about [right now.]”
The Canadian Cattle Association declined an interview request to discuss this story.
Deonandan says he’s drawing attention to bird flu to contextualize the threat it poses to humans.
“COVID-19 has shown us that there is a deep distrust of the so-called experts, deep distrust of authority,” he said. “By getting ahead of the narrative, by laying out the facts as we know them, maybe we can buy some more trust.”
HALIFAX – The Nova Scotia government says it could be months before it reveals how many people are on the wait-list for a family doctor.
The head of the province’s health authority told reporters Wednesday that the government won’t release updated data until the 160,000 people who were on the wait-list in June are contacted to verify whether they still need primary care.
Karen Oldfield said Nova Scotia Health is working on validating the primary care wait-list data before posting new numbers, and that work may take a matter of months. The most recent public wait-list figures are from June 1, when 160,234 people, or about 16 per cent of the population, were on it.
“It’s going to take time to make 160,000 calls,” Oldfield said. “We are not talking weeks, we are talking months.”
The interim CEO and president of Nova Scotia Health said people on the list are being asked where they live, whether they still need a family doctor, and to give an update on their health.
A spokesperson with the province’s Health Department says the government and its health authority are “working hard” to turn the wait-list registry into a useful tool, adding that the data will be shared once it is validated.
Nova Scotia’s NDP are calling on Premier Tim Houston to immediately release statistics on how many people are looking for a family doctor. On Tuesday, the NDP introduced a bill that would require the health minister to make the number public every month.
“It is unacceptable for the list to be more than three months out of date,” NDP Leader Claudia Chender said Tuesday.
Chender said releasing this data regularly is vital so Nova Scotians can track the government’s progress on its main 2021 campaign promise: fixing health care.
The number of people in need of a family doctor has more than doubled between the 2021 summer election campaign and June 2024. Since September 2021 about 300 doctors have been added to the provincial health system, the Health Department said.
“We’ll know if Tim Houston is keeping his 2021 election promise to fix health care when Nova Scotians are attached to primary care,” Chender said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – Newfoundland and Labrador‘s chief medical officer is monitoring the rise of whooping cough infections across the province as cases of the highly contagious disease continue to grow across Canada.
Dr. Janice Fitzgerald says that so far this year, the province has recorded 230 confirmed cases of the vaccine-preventable respiratory tract infection, also known as pertussis.
Late last month, Quebec reported more than 11,000 cases during the same time period, while Ontario counted 470 cases, well above the five-year average of 98. In Quebec, the majority of patients are between the ages of 10 and 14.
Meanwhile, New Brunswick has declared a whooping cough outbreak across the province. A total of 141 cases were reported by last month, exceeding the five-year average of 34.
The disease can lead to severe complications among vulnerable populations including infants, who are at the highest risk of suffering from complications like pneumonia and seizures. Symptoms may start with a runny nose, mild fever and cough, then progress to severe coughing accompanied by a distinctive “whooping” sound during inhalation.
“The public, especially pregnant people and those in close contact with infants, are encouraged to be aware of symptoms related to pertussis and to ensure vaccinations are up to date,” Newfoundland and Labrador’s Health Department said in a statement.
Whooping cough can be treated with antibiotics, but vaccination is the most effective way to control the spread of the disease. As a result, the province has expanded immunization efforts this school year. While booster doses are already offered in Grade 9, the vaccine is now being offered to Grade 8 students as well.
Public health officials say whooping cough is a cyclical disease that increases every two to five or six years.
Meanwhile, New Brunswick’s acting chief medical officer of health expects the current case count to get worse before tapering off.
A rise in whooping cough cases has also been reported in the United States and elsewhere. The Pan American Health Organization issued an alert in July encouraging countries to ramp up their surveillance and vaccination coverage.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 10, 2024.
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