ETIDIOH - NEW

WASHINGTON, January 17, 2025—As part of its ongoing, multi-faceted efforts to combat the spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) today is updating its policy for pre-slaughter surveillance to enhance testing of turkey flocks in affected states .  In late December 2024, APHIS became aware of a genetic link between turkeys potentially infected with HPAI H5N1, virus detected in raw pet food, and an infected household cat . Out of an abundance of caution, and to remove a potential avenue for ongoing disease spread as well as to bolster consumer and trading partner confidence, APHIS collaborated with state animal health officials and the poultry industry to update its guidance for existing pre-slaughter surveillance steps to further ensure that affected poultry does not enter the food system. APHIS will continue to report confirmed HPAI detections to the World Organisation for Animal Health and on the APHIS website (m...

January 17, 2025 The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has determined that it is necessary for manufacturers of cat and dog foods who are covered by the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act Preventive Controls for Animal Food (PCAF) rule and using uncooked or unpasteurized materials derived from poultry or cattle (e.g., uncooked meat, unpasteurized milk or unpasteurized eggs) to reanalyze their food safety plans to include Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza virus (specifically H5N1) as a known or reasonably foreseeable hazard .  Furthermore, the FDA is issuing this update to ensure that cat and dog food manufacturers are aware of information about the new H5N1 hazard associated with their pet food products, which is an additional reason that manufacturers must conduct a reanalysis of their food safety plans. The FDA is tracking cases of H5N1 in domestic and wild cats in California, Colorado, Oregon and Washington State that are associated with eating contaminated food products.  S...

{Original Article in Italian, edited and translated}  17/01/2025 13:28 Bologna – In Valsamoggia (Bo) a case of avian influenza was found in a cat . The animal lived in close contact with the poultry of a small family farm where the avian infection had already been identified which had led, as required by law, to the suppression of all the poultry present. The positivity in the cat was diagnosed by the Forlì branch of the Experimental Zooprophylactic Institute of Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna and confirmed by the National Reference Center for Avian Influenza. “Nothing new and no alarm,” commented Pierluigi Viale , professor of Infectious Diseases at the Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences at the University of Bologna and director of the Infectious Diseases Unit at the Sant’Orsola Polyclinic.  “The circulation of avian influenza is well known. Cats are already described in scientific literature as animals quite prone to contracting the ‘bird flu’ and there have been severa...

 Wild Laridae birds in Schleswig-Holstein Region. Source: WOAH,  https://wahis.woah.org/#/in-review/6196 _____

Abstract Human outbreaks of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) are more common in Middle Eastern and Asian human populations , associated with clades A and B . In Africa , where clade C is dominant in camels , human cases are minimal. We reviewed 16 studies (n = 6198) published across seven African countries between 2012 and 2024 to assess human MERS-CoV cases. We also analyzed data from four cohort studies conducted in camel-keeping communities between 2018 and 2024 involving camel keepers, camel slaughterhouse workers , and hospital patients with acute respiratory illness (ARI). The analysis showed a pooled MERS-CoV prevalence of 2.4% (IQR: 0.6, 11.4) from 16 publications and 1.14% from 4 cohort studies (n = 2353). Symptomatic cases were rarely reported, with most individuals reporting camel contact, and only 12% had travel history to the Middle East. There was one travel-associated reported death , resulting in a mortality rate of 0.013%. The findings suggest a ...

 {Excerpt} Time Period: January 05 - January 11, 2025 -- H5 Detection : 53 sites ( 15.8% ) -- No Detection : 282 sites ( 84.2% ) -- No samples in last week : 61 sites (...) Source: US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,  https://www.cdc.gov/bird-flu/h5-monitoring/index.html _____

 {Excerpt} One confirmed human infection with influenza A(H5) virus was reported to CDC this week. To date, human-to-human transmission of influenza A(H5) virus has not been identified in the United States. This case was reported by the California Department of Public Health and occurred in a child less than 18 years old with no known contact with influenza A(H5N1) virus-infected animals or humans . The investigation into the source of infection for this case is ongoing , and no human-to-human transmission has been identified. A specimen from the individual was tested at a public health laboratory using the CDC influenza A(H5) assay before being sent to CDC for further testing. The specimen was positive for influenza A(H5) virus using diagnostic RT-PCR at CDC. Additional analysis including genetic sequencing is underway. In response to this detection, additional case investigation and contact monitoring are being conducted by public health officials in California. There have now be...

Abstract The H9N2 subtype of avian influenza virus (AIV) is widely distributed among poultry and wild birds and is also a threat to humans . During AIV active surveillance in Liaoning province from 2015 to 2016, we identified ten H9N2 strains exhibiting different lethality to chick embryos . Two representative strains, A/chicken/China/LN07/2016 (CKLN/07) and A/chicken/China/LN17/2016 (CKLN/17), with similar genomic background but different chick embryo lethality, were chosen to evaluate the molecular basis for this difference. A series of reassortants between CKLN/07 and CKLN/17 were generated and their chick embryo lethality was assessed. We found that the isoleucine (I) residue at position 137 (H3 numbering) in the hemagglutinin (HA) was responsible for the chick embryo lethality of the H9N2 virus. Further studies revealed that the threonine (T) to I mutation at HA position 137 enhanced viral replication in vitro and in vivo . Moreover, the HA-T137I substitution in H9N2 avian influen...

Abstract Influenza vaccine effectiveness and immunogenicity can be compromised with repeated vaccination . We assessed immunological markers in a cohort of healthcare workers (HCW) from six public hospitals around Australia during 2020–2021. Sera were collected pre-vaccination and ~14 and ~180 days post-vaccination and assessed in haemagglutination inhibition assay against egg-grown vaccine and equivalent cell-grown viruses. Responses to vaccination were compared by the number of prior vaccinations. Baseline sera were available for 595 HCW in 2020 and 1031 in 2021. 5% had not been vaccinated during five years prior to enrolment and 55% had been vaccinated every year. Post-vaccination titres for all vaccine antigens were lowest among HCW vaccinated in all 5-prior years and highest among HCW with 0 or 1 prior vaccinations , even after adjustment. This was observed for both influenza A subtypes and was dependent on pre-vaccination titre. Expanded cohorts are needed to better understand ho...

Active surveillance for avian influenza was conducted in October 2024 at Ganga Lake , located in the eastern region of Mongolia along the East Asian-Australasian Flyway for migratory birds . During the surveillance period, no clinical signs of disease or mortality were observed among wild birds. However, qRT-PCR analysis using H5-specific primers for fecal samples , followed by sequencing, confirmed the detection of the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) H5N1 subtype. Source: WOAH,  https://wahis.woah.org/#/in-review/6193 _____

 {Excerpt} (...) Now to the global spread of H5 avian influenza . Last year, 66 cases of H5 were reported from the United States , plus 10 from Cambodia, 2 from Viet Nam and one each from Australia, Canada and China. This is the highest number of reported human cases since 2015. So far this year, 2 cases including 1 death have been reported in the United States, and 1 death in Cambodia. Almost all these cases are associated with infected dairy cattle or poultry . H5N1 is of particular concern because since the first human cases were reported in 2003, it has killed almost half of those it has struck. Fortunately, H5N1 has not yet developed the ability to transmit easily between humans. But that could be only a matter of time. Every transmission from one animal to another , or to a human, is an opportunity for the virus to mutate, or to mix with other influenza viruses. It’s therefore imperative that the virus is not allowed to spread unchecked in animals. WHO is working closely with...