Legal Insurrection readers may recall my report on California Gov. Gavin Newsom declaring an emergency after the first critical case of bird flu was reported in an elderly patient in Louisiana.
The hospitalized patient also had preexisting medical conditions and likely contracted the H5N1 (aka Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza/HPAI) virus while tending to his own flock of birds (or perhaps from a wild bird that was mingling with his own).
The patient has since succumbed, and officials have declared it the first human bird flu death in this country.
State health officials announced the death, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicated it was the nation’s first due to bird flu.
Health officials have said the person was older than 65, had underlying medical problems and had been in contact with sick and dead birds in a backyard flock. They also said a genetic analysis had suggested the bird flu virus had mutated inside the patient, which could have led to the more severe illness.Few other details about the person have been disclosed.Since March, 66 confirmed bird flu infections have been reported in the U.S., but previous illnesses have been mild and most have been detected among farmworkers exposed to sick poultry or dairy cows.A bird flu death was not unexpected, virus experts said. There have been more than 950 confirmed bird flu infections globally since 2003, and more than 460 of those people died, according to the World Health Organization.
I would like to take a moment to put those last numbers reported by the AP, which I cited above, in perspective.
There are some signs the establishment media has learned a few lessons about pandemic reporting. I am heartened by reading the fact that the Louisiana patient was 65-years-old and had medical conditions early in the articles, rather than having that information buried after paragraphs of panic-inducing snippets.
News accounts also stress that the risk to humans is low, and real attention should be given to the impacts on animals. This is from The New York Times:
There is no sign that the virus is spreading from person to person anywhere in the country, and Louisiana officials have not identified any other cases in the state. Pasteurized dairy products remain safe to consume.“I still think the risk remains low,” said Dr. Diego Diel, a virologist at Cornell University.“However, it is important that people remain vigilant and avoid contact with sick animals, sick poultry, sick dairy cattle, and also avoid contact with wild birds,” he added.
However, not every public health organization has rethought the approach to contagion in the wake of the massive failures associated with trying to contain and control COVID-19. This statement comes from a World Health Organization (WHO) official.
“We’ve been studying the family tree of this virus for 25 odd years, and this is probably the nastiest form of the virus that we’ve seen. So the fact that it finally did cause a fatal infection here is tragic but not surprising,” said Dr. Richard Webby, who directs the World Health Organization Collaborating Center for Studies on the Ecology of Influenza in Animals and Birds at St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital.
WHO still aspires to get countries to agree to a “pandemic treaty.”
Meanwhile, many are just saying “NO” to flu-caused-fear on social media.
The strategies are simple for this virus:
1) Let our agricultural professionals and veterinarians take the lead on responses.
2) Keep yourself as healthy as possible.
3) Follow sensible flu-prevention guidelines.
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