Bird Flu is Now Trending Towards a Serious Problem

Over the past few years the H5N1 Bird Flu Virus has been spreading around the world killing millions of birds. Up until recently cross species infections have been very rare and limited, but changes in its PB2 gene has changed all this. Chile, Agentina and Peru are all reporting Sea Lion deaths, Italy, Spain, Poland, the UK and Canada reporting other mammal infections. in the UK, the H5N1 2.3.4.4b strain seems dominant, but a recent PB2 mutations E627K and T271A, seem to allow it to pass onto mammals much easier, suggesting a change towards doing this. This is probably because of the spread of it among bird populations all over the world. It probably has become the biggest problem that may cause disaster and social collapse over and above solar activity.

25/04/2025 – H5N1 influenza virus has been detected in cows and milk in the US. It has now been detected in wildlife in mainly red foxes in the east of the US and skunks and mountain lions in the west, most above the 40th parallel, but most mammals including humans have had cases. Most of the dairy cattle infections are with older cows in Texas, Kansas, and New Mexico that are below the 40th parallel. At the moment pigs seem not susceptible to the virus, but chickens are. Pigs could be a possible direct vector into humans, being a lot closer related in compatible structure having possibly developed together, especially if they are in close proximity to chickens, which is a possibility that happened with the 1918 Spanish Flu outbreak.

The problem with H5N1 is that because it is rare in humans, a crossover from birds through other mammals may be completely undefended by the human immune system, where it could cause havoc. It may have an effect similar to normal flu, but as a highly infectious agent that could be worse than Covid and the evidence of severe effects that it has on birds and other mammals, wiping out local populations, vaccinations may come too late to implement quickly. It is likely though that for a local population it may wipe out quite a few, but because of this quick ‘burn out,’ the severe effect limiting it with it’s own success. This won’t be much consolation for the population it gets into, such as ones with a higher population density and social interaction, places like the UK, Hong Kong, Singapore, major cities, etc.

In the UK, 30/12/2023 it is still heading both south and north, devon to northumberland.

Recent reports are:

24/05/2024 – Human infection of H5N1 bird flu shows notable mutations suggesting a higher potential for human infection. How humans will deal with a new and relatively unexposed to virus is unknown. Previous tests on mice also suggested a good possibility of enhanced level infection due to mutation. There have been virus particles found in meat sent to US abattoirs with the suggestion that the virus be eradicated by cooking meat to a well-done level.

24/04/2024 – H5N1 influenza virus has been detected in cows and milk in the US. It has now been detected in wildlife in mainly red foxes in the east of the US and skunks and mountain lions in the west, most above the 40th parallel, but most mammals including humans have had cases. Most of the dairy cattle infections are with older cows in Texas, Kansas, and New Mexico that are below the 40th parallel. About 1/3rd of milk samples have trace of the virus. At the moment pigs seem not susceptible to the virus, but chickens definitely are. Pigs could be a possible direct vector into humans, being a lot closer related in compatible structure having possibly developed together, especially if they are in close proximity to chickens, which is a possibility that happened with the various waves in the 1918 Spanish Flu outbreak. A crossover or breakthrough evolution may not conform to the vaccines that are being developed and with uncontrolled movement may spread very quickly and out of control.

24/01/2024 – Wetter and warmer weather due to changing world climate has meant that diseases like malaria, japanese encephalitis and buruli, carried by such creatures as mosquitoes are moving farther north and south in areas, so that areas that have rarely recorded it like Canada, the UK, Southern Australia and South Africa may see cases and a return to places it’s been eradicated. We might find that other diseases like H5N1 change vectors according to the new environments.

02/01/2024 – A Polar Bear died from H5N1 in Alaska. Previous mammal crossovers but not as far as deaths were November in Brown Bears and April in Foxes, more southerly ranging animals. In the UK, cases in birds have been detected throughout, luckily crossover cases are rare, but with large numbers in commercial flocks and close human and other commercial animal proximity it may be a matter of time before something bad emerges. It seems to be now passing the antarctic penisula with elephant seals dying in large numbers, so there is emerging a massive risk for birds such as Penguins populations. Because of the cold they are always under stress, but an epidemic combined with a slowly disappearing habitat due to climate change may give rise to severe effects.

27/11/2023 – New strain of Pig flu (H1N2) discovered in a human in North Yorkshire. Human infections of this are rare, only about 50 cases worldwide in the past 18 years which may suggest some general adaptation or weakness caused by the presence of another disease.

13/07/2023 – Chile reported 13,000 sea lion deaths associated with H5N1 virus.

07/07/2023 – 5 dogs and a cat tested positive for H5N1 virus in Italy.

27/06/2023 – Poland notifies World Health Organisation of unusual number of cats deaths from H5N1 influenza (Bird  Flu) virus. 29 Cats had tested positive for it, the normal numbers for cross species usually being in the occasional 1 or 2. It was noted and suggested that the virus had 2 mutations that made it easier to transmit to mammals.

30/03/2023 – Avian flu (H5N1) is being found in more wild mammals in the UK that have high exposure to infected birds.

11/03/2023 – Bird flu (Highly pathogenic avian influenza, HPAI, H5N1) still expanding in UK, a lot of cases in Suffolk and Norfolk, but expanding in North Yorkshire, Cumbria and especially Essex, so it can be found now in most counties and expanding.

23/02/2023 – a number of wild animals found to have H5N1 virus with PB2 mutation.

05/02/2023 – Avian Flu (H5N1) likely to spread much faster and maybe to other species due to upcoming migrations of birds from continent, including humans, after events of recent infection of fatalities in Caspian Sea to seals, a Mink farm in Spain and discovery of it in Otters and Foxes in UK.

24/01/2023 – 50,000 Farmed Mink destroyed in Spain because of H5N1 bird flu infections that were found in up to 10% of cases. It’s interesting that in 2001 around 13,000 mink were set free from a mink farm in Spain by unknown people.

23/01/2023 – Bird Flu (H5N1) in Cheshire, West Lancashire, Devon and Wiltshire.

15/12/2022 – Bird Flu (H5N1) is still spreading and has now been found in Herefordshire in UK. So far Wales has been mainly free, but with birds migrating due to the winter from the continent this is unlikely to continue. It is still mainly in the East of the UK, but has been found as far south as Torquay, Devon and as far north as Banff in Scotland.

14/11/2022 – Highly infectious version of bird flu centred around 0.5 mile NW of Arundel, West Sussex. 3Km Captive Bird Monitoring Zone set up. Main cluster centred on Dereham, Norfolk.

22/10/2022 – At least 20 swans die from bird flu, H5N1, in Swindon, UK lake. All poultry and captive birds in UK legally need to be kept inside from November 7th with Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex having the most cases in largest outbreak seen.