Virologists Alarmed as ‘Bird Flu’ Spreads to Minks and Bears, and Could Soon Jump to Humans

Virologists Alarmed as ‘Bird Flu’ Spreads to Minks and Bears, and Could Soon Jump to Humans

This spring, I noted that the production of eggs in the US plummeted in April as millions of hens were killed during one of the worst-ever outbreaks of avian influenza.

After several months, this potent avian flu (i.e., “bird flu”) returned to the Midwest earlier than authorities expected. The highly pathogenic disease was detected in two commercial turkey flocks in western Minnesota and a hobby flock in Indiana.

Now there are reports that are alarming virologists of its spread to animals, as the jump to humans could soon be next.

To begin with, three young grizzly bears were recently euthanized after they were found suffering from the bird flu after eating infected animals in Montana.

The state’s Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) department said the bears were found near the cities of Augusta, Dupuyer and Kalispell, which surround the Flathead National Forest.

All three bears were observed to be in poor condition, and showed signs of disorientation and partial blindness, among other neurological issues.

The FWP said the animals were put down, while noting that these were the first-ever cases of the highly pathogenic avian influenza virus documented in grizzly bears.

Genetic testing on minks in Spain showed that an outbreak of bird flu in a farm in Spain proves the H5N1 strain of flu that is devastating bird flocks can now spread from one infected mammal to another.

The outbreak of H5N1 flu, described in a report in Eurosurveillance on 19 January1, occurred on an American mink (Neovison vison) farm in Carral in October 2022. Genetic sequencing showed that the animals were infected with a new variant of H5N1, which includes genetic material from a strain found in gulls, as well as a genetic change known to increase the ability of some animal-flu viruses to reproduce in mammals.

The new variant puts bird flu in “uncharted territory”, says Wendy Puryear, a virologist at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts. Researchers have warned that, without careful precautions, the disease might eventually spread among people.

The strain has already spread to a small number of humans.

But the trend of minimal transmission among humans may not hold, experts warn. Last week the WHO reported that a previously healthy Ecuadorian girl had been hospitalized with the virus.

Just how she contracted the virus is uncertain and under investigation, but poultry her family had recently purchased died without apparent cause.

Legal Insurrection readers will recall when I reported that Chinese researchers created an H7N9 virus that killed 35% of the mice tested. Interestingly, H5N1 bird flu rages and kills nearly 100% of infected birds. And it appears that the virus has also been studied at the infamous institute.

Therefore, it is worrying that one virologist noted that the “H5N1 strain, detected in Spain, is similar to one purposely engineered to better infect humans in controversial ‘gain of function’ lab experiments.”

One virus-tracking scientist described the H5N1 strain, detected in Spain, as being similar to one purposely engineered to better infect humans in controversial ‘gain of function’ lab experiments.

Professor Rupert Beale, an immunology expert at the world-renowned Francis Crick Institute in London, said: ‘We should have vaccine contingency plans already.’

And Professor Isabella Eckerle, a virologist at the University of Geneva’s Centre for Emerging Viral Diseases, called the findings ‘really worrisome’.

Other experts warned that outbreaks among mink could lead to a recombination event — when two viruses switch genetic material to make a new hybrid.

A similar process is thought to have caused the global 2009 swine flu crisis that infected millions across the planet.

It does not appear this wave of avian flu is going away and will wreak havoc for quite some time.

This season’s bird flu outbreak is the worst in U.S. history, having surpassed a 2015 outbreak the CDC once called “arguably the most significant animal health event in U.S. history.” That year, nearly 51 million birds died nationally due to H5N1 and related avian flu viruses. This season’s outbreak is also the worst in U.K. history, with farmers in England ordered to keep their birds indoors as of Nov. 7 in a poultry “lock down” of sorts.

The so-called “R naught” value—or the number of people infected by a single infected person, on average—for COVID initially ranged from 1.5 to 7, and now sits upwards of 12.

The R naught value of H5N1 among birds: “around 100,” according to Chowdhury.

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