And just like that, a couple hits already.
A Texas plant full of egg-laying hens has been shut down temporarily after bird flu was detected in the animals.
medicalxpress.com
"Cal-Maine Foods, the largest egg producer in the country, said in a news release issued Tuesday that it had to subsequently cull about 1.6 million hens and 337,000 pullets (young hens) at the plant."
Although most experts say bird flu is not an immediate threat to humans, efforts are underway to produce vaccines for H5N1 or another potential pandemic virus
www.scientificamerican.com
"There are also efforts to apply messenger RNA (mRNA) technology—such as that used for some of the COVID vaccines—to flu vaccines. According to University of Washington microbiologist Deborah Fuller, these efforts range from developing a universal flu vaccine to creating a “multivalent” vaccine that targets only a few subtypes—or versions of the virus (like a typical seasonal flu vaccine does). One advantage of mRNA technology is its speed of production. And because of the COVID pandemic, there is now more infrastructure to mass-produce doses. “RNA vaccines can be designed extremely quickly—you only need the genetic sequence of what the new variant is that’s emerging, and within weeks, [you] can have a vaccine already tested in animal models,” Fuller says."
A virus that has killed millions of birds is spreading among US dairy cows, raising concerns that the outbreak may hurt demand for dairy and beef.
www.bloomberg.com
Bird Flu Spooks Meat, Milk Traders as Virus Hits Dairy Cows
