Andreas PruchaFeb 24, 2023
Carl T. Bergstrom

I've been following #H5N1 avian influenza for twenty years.

Today's news of a young girl's death from H5N1 in Cambodia is tragic and the news that 4 of 12 contacts are showing influenza-like symptoms is worrisome.

It's not time to panic yet by any means—we've seen similar events a number of times—but obviously we'll be watching closely.

Whatever happens, we need to be taking steps *now* to bolster rapid production capacity for cellular H5N1 vaccines such as Audenz.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/bird-flu-death-cambodian-child-sparks-global-alarm/

Bird flu kills school girl and infects father – 11 others under observation

Cambodian authorities test close-contacts for H5N1 after child's death. The possibility of human-to-human transmission has sparked alarm

The Telegraph
Feb 24, 2023 at 4:54amWeb
Show threadCarl T. BergstromFeb 25, 2023

At of tonight it looks as though only one contact, the girl’s father, has tested positive for H5N1. While human-to-human transmission is not ruled out, parallel zoonotic transmissions from a common environmental source seem far more likely.

When these cases are first announced, information is often sketchy and translation errors, such as yesterday’s that suggested 12 downstream cases, are common.

https://www.nytimes.com/explain/2023/bird-flu-cambodia-death

Human Bird Flu Cases Investigated in Cambodia

Two family members were infected with H5N1; the daughter died. Eleven contacts, some with symptoms, have tested negative, according to the W.H.O.

The New York Times
Show threadCarl T. BergstromFeb 26, 2023
Via @HelenBranswell, it appears that these two cases were infected with an older strain (2.3.2.1c) of H5N1, rather than the strain of current concern that is sweeping the globe. This, coupled with the absence of further reports of human cases, makes it likely that daughter and father both contracted H5N1 directly from their flock of birds and that there was no human-to-human transmission involved.
Show threadHelen BranswellFeb 26, 2023
@ct_bergstrom thanks, Carl. I do wonder if the father was truly infected given he was asymptomatic. Either way, glad the other contacts were negative.
Show threadElizabeth Loves DEIFeb 26, 2023
@ct_bergstrom @HelenBranswell , what a relief.
Show threadJoeFeb 26, 2023

Nature's lesson in humility for those like me who immediately assumed it was the current widely circulating avian flu.

Also didn't know that there are around 40 human H5N1 cases per year worldwide.

Show threadRyan HagenFeb 27, 2023
@ct_bergstrom @HelenBranswell slightly unrelated but what’s your take on DOE’s weighing in on the SARS COV 2 lab leak? The news reports seem to be just totally empty of any real information and it’s hard as someone without expertise in virology to know what to make of it.
Show threadG. Willow WilsonFeb 24, 2023
@ct_bergstrom please no 😭
Show threadannaravenFeb 24, 2023
@ct_bergstrom oh fuck we do not need another pandemic right now we're not even over the last one fuck
Show threadSheldonFeb 24, 2023
@annaraven especially not one that’ll make the last one look like a holiday.
Show threadPēteris KrišjānisFeb 24, 2023
@annaraven @ct_bergstrom nature kinda doesn't give a fuck.
Show threadannaravenFeb 24, 2023
@peteriskrisjanis @ct_bergstrom
Show threadPatricia LavataiFeb 25, 2023
@peteriskrisjanis @annaraven @ct_bergstrom
She cares about balance, but she certainly doesn’t care about humans above the rest of creation. We screw things up….she just takes back what is hers.
Show threadSamhain NightFeb 24, 2023
@ct_bergstrom And hope people actually take the vaccines.
Show threadJoeFeb 24, 2023
@ct_bergstrom Ugh, looks like 1 of the 4 contacts - the girl's father - has tested positive. https://bnonews.com/index.php/2023/02/cambodia-reports-2nd-human-case-of-h5n1-bird-flu/
Cambodia reports 2nd human case of H5N1 bird flu

The father of an 11-year-old Cambodian girl who died of H5N1 bird flu has also tested positive for the virus, the health ministry announced on Friday, less than two days after the first case was confirmed. Dr. Seng Panharith, the director of the Prey Veng Provincial Health Department, said the 49-year-old man tested positive after […]

BNO News
Show threadDancingwiththebelovedFeb 24, 2023
@ct_bergstrom certainly worth monitoring 🤔
Show threadLazarou Monkey Terror 🚀💙🌈Feb 24, 2023
@ct_bergstrom going from our COVID experience the World is just going to pretend the threat away and sacrifice millions of lives in that endeavour.
Why would it happen any other way, have we learned a single fucking lesson?
Show threadPhilipp SteinkrügerFeb 24, 2023
@ct_bergstrom That's where I get worried, when I read "this is what we would need to do now..." because whatever it is, it's not going to happen...
Show threadbean481Feb 27, 2023
@ct_bergstrom But IS there a Virology lab next door to the farm in Cambodia?