H5N1, H9N2, and H5N5 go into a bar…

Very briefly: We now have H5N1, H9N2, and H5N5 travelling the wild flyways and starting to play in the same space. The party might be about to get out of hand..

A woman in Wyoming hospitalised with H5N1 bird flu, probably infected via her backyard flock—I don’t know which strain.China has reported two more human infections involving H9N2 avian flu, and, this time, it’s two adults, both women over 50.Another type of highly pathogenic avian influenza has joined the party: H5N5 has been detected in a backyard poultry flock in Newfoundland. Also UK seals. It has also been found in a cat in Iceland. (Previously, in 2023, a bunch of raccoons died of it.) “The United Kingdom is among six countries that have reported H5N5 in birds and mammals since the first of the year, which, alongside Canada and Iceland, also includes Norway, Greenland, and Germany…“A third wild-bird H5N1 (D1.1) to dairy-herd spillover, this time in Arizona. Can you spell ‘acceleration’?

The World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) has warned of “unprecedented genetic variability in avian flu subtypes in wild birds and poultry across the world, creating epidemiologic challenges.” No, shit. And, hey, only a dangerously underfunded WHO and an under-staffed, hollowed-out CDC to pay attention…