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<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="20851936" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Ukrainian-drones" source="keywords">Ukrainian drones</keyword> won't need operators in as little as six months, a Ukrainian commander said.</li><li>Artificial intelligence-enabled drones are being rapidly developed, tested, and deployed.</li></ul>In just a matter of months, Ukraine may no longer need pilots for its drone force, a special drone unit commander said recently.<br /><br />The expected shift towards autonomous and <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-allies-look-to-ai-for-help-with-naval-operations-2023-12">artificial intelligence-enabled systems</a> would mark an important development in the continued <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ukraine-russia-locked-cat-and-mouse-game-drone-production-official-2024-6">drone arms race between Russia and Ukraine</a>.<br /><br />In as little as six months, Ukraine's drone force could shift to <keyword id="20233903" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="AI-systems" source="keywords">AI systems</keyword>, <keyword id="23328745" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Robert-Brovdi" source="keywords">Robert Brovdi</keyword>, the founder and commander of the "<keyword id="23328746" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Madyar-Birds" source="keywords">Madyar Birds</keyword>" special drone unit, said in <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOzLRul3o3A">a conversation with The Economist</a> earlier this month. He said the unmanned aerial vehicles will be "pilotless completely without any operators."<br /><br />He talked about the ongoing development and testing of hundreds of AI systems, explaining that soldiers will only need to launch the aircraft. From there, the drone "will decide on its own where to go and how to hit the target." Brovdi added that the weapons will be able to tell friends from foes.<br /><br />It's unclear to which systems Brovdi is referring, although various Ukrainian and Western companies have been working on autonomous capabilities for drones. One Ukrainian company's AI drones have already been used on the battlefield to carry out <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidhambling/2023/10/17/ukraines-ai-drones-seek-and-attack-russian-forces-without-human-oversight/">autonomous strikes</a> on Russian forces. But many of the drones on the battlefield, be they cheap first-person-view drones or higher-end systems, still use human operators.<br /><br />Brovdi said that the Ukrainian soldiers who have been at the forefront of employing unmanned systems in the war have garnered years of experience and will be able to help train NATO militaries in <keyword id="20675065" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="drone-warfare" source="keywords">drone warfare</keyword>.<br /><br />Brovdi said that "this will become an element of our practical gratitude for your assistance in our fight for our freedom and for our country and for our families," referencing the ongoing support for Ukraine from its Western partners.<br /><br />  <div type="image" title="US Army drones at a military base in Poland." height="1414" width="2121" msid="113642773" hostid="261"></div>Brovdi's comments highlight the continued development of various drone capabilities amid the war in Ukraine.<br /><br />Drones have become a defining element of the war, as has the resulting arms race. Both sides in this conflict are using unmanned systems en masse and developing new countermeasures. As FPV drones emerged as a serious threat, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russian-electronic-warfare-shows-us-needs-for-future-wars-2024-5">extensive electronic warfare</a> was employed to counter them. Tethered drones connected to the operator by <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russias-unjammable-wired-drones-arent-end-all-game-changer-2024-8">fiber optic cables</a> were then used to defeat jamming. Autonomous, AI-driven drones would also be immune.<br /><br />Drones have drastically changed what the modern battlefield looks like and pushed Western armies such as the US to further prioritize the development of unmanned systems and options for eliminating them in combat.<br /><br />  <div type="image" title="A missile explodes in Gaza City during an Israeli air strike on October 8, 2023." height="4373" width="6550" msid="113642774" hostid="261"></div>Discussions about AI in drones and other weapons systems have been ongoing in recent years. Earlier this year, the Pentagon <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/stricter-ai-rules-fears-pentagon-building-killer-robots-in-basement-2024-1" target="_blank">updated its directive on autonomy in weapons systems</a>, a move the deputy secretary of defense, Kathleen Hicks, attributed to "the dramatic advances in technology happening all around us."<br /><br />Militaries like the US have been thinking bigger when it comes to AI, including <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-militarys-ai-fighter-jet-pilot-making-dramatic-advances-officer-2024-6">autonomous fighter jets</a>, warships, and <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-navy-drone-boats-deadly-weapons-first-time-middle-east-2023-11">more</a>.<br /><br />But with the rise of AI comes a range of concerns about letting autonomous systems make kill decisions. Earlier this year, reports of <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/israel-using-ai-gaza-targets-terrifying-glimpse-at-future-war-2024-4">Israel using AI to locate and target Hamas operatives</a> raised a number of concerns about how to keep the human in the loop.<br /><br />The <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-could-shape-future-of-war-starting-with-wargaming-experts-2024-2">AI race in militaries</a> has also led to international disputes about whether to impose regulations on how to develop and use AI weapons. Some major players, such as the US, Russia, and Israel have argued there's no need for new international regulations on such capabilities. Others, however, argue that <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/future-of-warfare-is-catastrophic-and-robotic-former-general-says-2023-5">rules need to be put in place</a> sooner rather than later.<br /><br /><em>Correction: September 26, 2024 — An earlier version of this story misspelled the surname of the US deputy secretary of defense. She's Kathleen Hicks, not Kathleen Kicks.</em><br />

Ukrainian unit commander predicts drone warfare will be truly unmanned in a matter of months and won't need human pilots

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A pig has tested positive for <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bird-flu-avian-influenza-outbreak-us-h5n1-wiping-out-everything-2023-4">H5N1 bird flu</a> in a backyard farm in Oregon.</li><li>Pigs can host both bird and human flu viruses, which can make them a dangerous "mixing bowl."</li></ul><p>A bird flu virus has jumped one species <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/h5n1-bird-flu-virus-experts-concerned-human-outbreak-spread-possible-2024-6">closer to a human outbreak</a>.</p><p>The H5N1 <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/avian-flu-has-made-organic-eggs-cheaper-than-conventional-ones-2022-12">bird flu</a> was detected in a pig in Oregon, the first instance of a swine infection in the US, officials announced on Wednesday.</p><p>Pigs get both bird flu viruses and human flu viruses, making them a genetic mixing bowl where H5N1 could gain <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/woman-hiv-had-coronavirus-216-days-virus-mutated-2021-6">genetic mutations</a> that help it spread between humans.</p><p>That's not inevitable, but "I would say the concern elevated slightly with this pig infection," Stacey Schultz-Cherry, a virus expert at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and the deputy director of a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/who-says-millions-died-covid-pandemic-global-health-systems-2022-5">World Health Organization</a> center on animal and bird influenza, told Business Insider.</p><h2 id="d1cf7120-d282-47b7-81ca-5de40e2d7544">The 'animal pandemic' that could jump to humans</h2><p>This strain of bird flu has killed tens of millions of birds worldwide since 2020 and more than 40,000 sea lions and seals in South America. World Health Organization chief scientist Jeremy Farrar has called this an "<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/3-viruses-scientists-are-watching-for-the-next-pandemic-2022-4">animal pandemic</a>."</p><div type="image" title="two people in white biohazard suits with masks and goggles handle a vial on a beach next to a dead porpoise" height="1500" width="2249" msid="114818661" hostid="261" sizebytes="166630"></div><p>Earlier this year, it made an unexpected <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bird-flu-cattle-outbreak-repeat-mistakes-former-surgeon-general-warning-2024-4">jump into US cattle herds</a>.</p><p>Since then, H5N1 has even <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bird-flu-virus-h5n1-new-human-case-michigan-respiratory-symptoms-2024-6">infected a few humans</a> who work closely with livestock in the US. But there has been no sign of sustained human-to-human transmission. Pigs could change that.</p><h2 id="bc8980f4-6384-4658-be8f-7431e95db3eb">Meet the first infected pig</h2><p>The US Department of Agriculture <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.aphis.usda.gov/news/agency-announcements/federal-state-veterinary-agencies-share-update-hpai-detections-oregon">reported</a> that the infected pig was living in a "backyard farming operation" which is now quarantined.</p><p>Two other pigs on the farm have tested negative for H5N1, while results are still pending for two others. <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-chicken-anxiety-how-to-tell-poultry-is-cooked-2023-8">Poultry</a> there have also tested positive.</p><p>"There is no concern about the safety of the nation's pork supply as a result of this finding," the USDA reported, saying that the pigs at this farm were not intended for commercial <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bird-flu-eggs-meat-milk-dairy-safety-during-outbreak-2024-4">food supplies</a>.</p><p>Because of the backyard setting, this case doesn't pose the same major outbreak risk as an infection in a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/chinas-skyscraper-farm-slaughter-1-million-pigs-a-year-2022-11">commercial pig farm</a>.</p><p>"If it starts to spread from pigs to pigs, then it's much more of a problem," Florian Krammer, a flu virologist at Mount Sinai's Icahn School of Medicine in New York, told <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.statnews.com/2024/10/30/h5n1-bird-flu-found-in-oregon-pig-reassortment-threat-human-transmission/">STAT News</a>. "If it ends up in large pig populations in the US similar to cows, I think this would be a disaster."</p><h2 id="d7d01e9a-980c-4e8e-8e39-4d09d0ecc0cf">Why pig infection could be a tipping point</h2><p><a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/super-pigs-bred-in-canada-escaped-captivity-now-invading-us-2023-4">Pigs</a> play host to both bird flu viruses and human flu viruses. That makes them a dangerous playground for the two to swap genes.</p><p><a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/past-noncompliance-barred-pig-transplant-patient-from-human-heart-2022-1">Inside a pig</a>, the H5N1 bird flu virus could pick up genetic mutations that help it adapt to better infect human bodies.</p><div type="image" title="h5n1 virus microscope image shows black and white long straight worm-shaped organism" height="1500" width="2250" msid="114818658" hostid="261" sizebytes="157400"></div><p>The more pigs are infected, the greater this risk is. However, Schultz-Cherry said, "we would not need to see pig-to-pig transmission to worry about this mixing vessel or this mixing bowl effect." </p><p>There's no other animal "at the top of the list" with pigs, Richard Webby, a virologist at St. Jude and director of the WHO animal and bird flu center, told BI in June. </p><p>That could just be due to gaps in our understanding of animal influenza. After all, he added, "a few months ago, I would have told you that cows don't get flu."</p><h2 id="7a4f46f3-5945-4643-8803-01a4a97b4066">Bad timing: Flu season is in full swing</h2><p id="8364e69e-29e2-41ab-87e2-b1fac23a6a6f">The timing of this development is "not ideal," Schultz-Cherry said, because it's the middle of <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tell-which-virus-you-have-flu-covid-rsv-symptoms-2022-12">flu season</a>, and pigs can get the strains of flu that circulate among humans.</p><p id="8364e69e-29e2-41ab-87e2-b1fac23a6a6f">If this season's flu strains were to overlap with a pig H5N1 infection, that would increase the risk of gene-swapping that helps the bird flu adapt to humans.</p><p id="8364e69e-29e2-41ab-87e2-b1fac23a6a6f">"Really it would just take one pig," Schultz-Cherry said.</p><p id="8364e69e-29e2-41ab-87e2-b1fac23a6a6f">Getting your seasonal flu vaccine can help, though, especially if you're in contact with cows, pigs, or poultry. Schultz-Cherry said that's because vaccination reduces the amount of flu circulating through the population.</p><div type="image" title="Flu Vaccine" height="1220" width="1639" msid="114818656" hostid="261" sizebytes="95142"></div><h2 id="09d4fd9c-f4e2-4a2a-ad87-8f1c71a7d750">Genomic detective work</h2><p id="8364e69e-29e2-41ab-87e2-b1fac23a6a6f">Schultz-Cherry was surprised by the pig news but, she said, "I guess I shouldn't be."</p><p>The <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bird-flu-cows-milk-spread-study-suggests-how-to-stop-2024-6">virus is circulating in cattle</a>, chickens, wild birds, and cats all over the country. Mice have tested positive.</p><p>Just sharing a drinking water source with these animals could put a pig at risk. The USDA reported that livestock and poultry on the Oregon farm shared water sources, shelter, and other equipment.</p><p>Now that officials have samples of the virus that infected the pig, they can sequence its genome. That could hint at which animal it first came from.</p><p>Scientists will likely look for mutations in the virus that could help it infect humans more easily, such as a tweak that makes it attach to more mammal-type receptors in a host animal's cells.</p><p>"It was one pig," Schultz-Cherry said. "But it is something that will lead to increased monitoring of the situation."</p>

Bird flu was detected in a pig, and it could be a tipping point threatening more human transmission

Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], June 12 (ANI): The World Health Organisation has confirmed the human case of <keyword id="3653784" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="bird-flu-in-india" source="Orion">bird flu in India</keyword>, after the <keyword id="15897682" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="H9N2-virus" source="Orion">H9N2 virus</keyword> was detected in a four-year child in West Bengal. Overall, this is the second <keyword id="21166335" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="human-infection" source="keywords">human infection</keyword> of <keyword id="2663051" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Avian-Influenza-A" source="Orion">avian influenza A</keyword> (H9N2) notified to WHO from India, with the first being done in 2019. <br /><br />The child has recovered and was discharged from the hospital. <br /><br />WHO received a notification from the International Health Regulations (IHR) National Focal Point (NFP) for India, regarding a human case of avian influenza A(H9N2) virus infection in West Bengal, the health body said in a press release. <br /><br />"The patient is a 4-year-old child residing in West Bengal state. The case, previously diagnosed with hyperreactive airway disease, initially presented to the paediatrician with fever and abdominal pain on 26 January 2024. <br /><br />He developed seizures on January 29 after which he was brought to the same paediatrician. The patient was admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit (ICU) of a local hospital due to the persistence of severe respiratory distress, recurrent high-grade fever and abdominal cramps. <br /><br />The patient tested positive for influenza B and adenovirus. <br /><br />He was discharged from the hospital on February 28 but with a recurrence of severe respiratory distress, he was referred to another government hospital and was admitted to the pediatric ICU and intubated on March 3. <br /><br />His nasopharyngeal swab was sent to the Kolkata Virus Research and Diagnostic Laboratory and tested positive for influenza A (not sub-typed) and rhinovirus. <br /><br />On April 26, the sample was sub-typed as influenza A(H9N2) through a real-time polymerase chain reaction. The patient was discharged from the hospital with oxygen support on May 1. <br /><br />WHO said that the infected patient had exposure to poultry at home and in the surroundings. <br /><br />It, however, also affirmed there were no known persons reporting symptoms of respiratory illness in the family, the neighbourhood, or among healthcare workers at health facilities attended by the case at the time of reporting. <br /><br />The health body further warned that sporadic human cases could occur in the future as this virus is "one of the most prevalent avian influenza viruses circulating in poultry in different regions." <br /><br />Animal influenza viruses normally circulate in animals but can also infect humans. Infections in humans have primarily been acquired through direct contact with infected animals or through indirect contact with contaminated environments. Depending on the original host, influenza A viruses can be classified as avian influenza, swine influenza, or other types of animal influenza viruses, the WHO stated in the release. <br /><br />The health body further said that it is providing continued support to the government of India through technical advice, updates on risk assessment and updating contingency plans- both in the human and animal sectors in line with the global guidance.<br />

WHO confirms human case of bird flu in India! H9N2 virus detected in a four-year child in West Bengal

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The H5N1 <keyword id="753637" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="bird-flu-virus" source="Orion">bird flu virus</keyword> is spreading through US cattle herds for the first time.</li><li>The mammal-to-mammal transmission has scientists worried the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/woman-hiv-had-coronavirus-216-days-virus-mutated-2021-6">virus could mutate</a> to spread between humans.</li></ul><keyword id="95867" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="bird-flu" source="Orion">Bird flu</keyword> is flying wild. In recent months the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bird-flu-avian-influenza-outbreak-us-h5n1-wiping-out-everything-2023-4">highly pathogenic H5N1 virus</a> has been spreading through US cattle herds for the first time ever.<br /><br />The cow-to-cow transmission is the latest escalation in a global <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/egg-prices-poised-to-spike-again-thanks-to-avian-flu-2023-12">outbreak</a> that began when the virus reemerged in Europe in 2020. It has since killed tens of millions of birds and more than 40,000 sea lions and seals in South America.<br /><br />World Health Organization chief scientist Jeremy Farrar <a target="_blank" href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/04/1148696">called</a> this an "<keyword id="20925201" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="animal-pandemic" source="Orion">animal pandemic</keyword>" on April 18.<br /><br />Genetic fragments of the virus, discovered in grocery store milk on Tuesday, suggest the <keyword id="21439799" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="cattle-outbreak" source="Orion">cattle outbreak</keyword> is more widespread than officials believed, The Washington Post <a target="_blank" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2024/04/23/bird-flu-virus-milk/">reported</a>.<br /><br />Experts told the Post that <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bird-flu-eggs-meat-milk-dairy-safety-during-outbreak-2024-4">drinking pasteurized milk is probably still safe</a>. Pasteurization deactivates pathogens, probably including H5N1, according to the Food and Drug Administration. However, no studies have specifically tested whether pasteurizing milk deactivates H5N1. According to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/19/health/bird-flu-usda-cattle.html">the New York Times</a>, the FDA is testing that now.<br /><br />  <div type="image" title="row of cows sticking their heads through metal bars to eat hay feed" height="1500" width="2250" msid="109603130" hostid="261"></div>One human in Texas has tested positive for the virus after exposure to dairy cattle. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2024/p0401-avian-flu.html">According</a> to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, that person's only symptom was eye redness.<br /><br />There has been no known human-to-human transmission. Still, future mutation could allow the virus to spread more easily to and between humans — a possibility of "great concern" to Farrar.<br /><br />  <div type="image" title="man with turkeys inside coop. sign outside reads 'biosecurity area - no admittance w/o owner permission" height="1400" width="2100" msid="109603131" hostid="261"></div>Dr. Jerome Adams, a former surgeon general and the director of health equity at Purdue University, is getting deja vu.<br /><br />"If it keeps spreading in animals, then it is eventually going to cause problems for humans, either because we don't have food because they've got to start exterminating flocks, or because it starts to make a jump in humans," Adams, <keyword id="6366244" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="who" source="Orion">who</keyword> served under former President Donald Trump and was on the administration's initial COVID-19 task force, told Business Insider. "The more it replicates, the more chances it has to mutate."<br /><br />Though he agrees with the CDC's <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cdc.gov/flu/avianflu/inhumans.htm">assessment</a> that the current risk to humans is low, Adams fears the US is repeating many mistakes it made in the early days of COVID-19.<br /><br /><h2>Weak messaging with no clear leaders</h2>Who is in charge of an animal pandemic in the US? The CDC? The US Department of Agriculture? The FDA?<br /><br />The answer is, sort of, all of them. That decentralized responsibility could be behind the lack of widespread, clear public messaging so far.<br /><br />For example, Adams says he hasn't changed anything about his diet, since pasteurization and proper cooking procedures should kill any live virus present. But he isn't sure everyone is getting the message.<br /><br />He compared it to the development of COVID-19 vaccines, when people distrusted a process they didn't understand.<br /><br />  <div type="image" title="person with ponytail green hoodie medical gloves inspects eggs in a grocery story" height="1500" width="2000" msid="109603133" hostid="261"></div>"The public needs good consistent communication from the White House, from the USDA, helping reassure them what the process is to keep them safe," Adams said.<br /><br />Rather than consumers, the people most at risk are agricultural workers or anyone with close or prolonged exposure to chickens or cattle. It's those groups who need strong, targeted guidance right now, Adams said.<br /><br /><h2>Only testing the sick</h2>So far, the USDA has only been testing <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/beef-prices-higher-drought-fewer-cattle-less-meat-2022-8">cattle herds</a> when an animal appears sick. That means asymptomatic spread could be flying under the radar.<br /><br />"An animal can't tell you, 'Hey, I feel a little under the weather today.' So they're literally waiting until an animal is collapsing or showing fatigue or showing severe symptoms," Adams said. "We need a testing strategy that is proactive and allows true surveillance, and not reactive."<br /><br />The USDA took a step forward on Wednesday, ordering that all lactating dairy cows must be tested for H5N1 before they're moved across state lines and that all positive test results must be reported.<br /><br />New York Times columnist Zeynep Tufekci <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/24/opinion/bird-flu-cow-outbreak.html">reported</a> that same day that, until now, the USDA has not been keeping track of positive test results in cattle.<br /><br /><h2>Election distraction</h2>  <div type="image" title="donald trump" height="3333" width="5000" msid="109603134" hostid="261"></div>In late 2019 and early 2020, the big news story was the impeachment, and later acquittal, of President Trump. Now a different <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-hush-money-trial-kicks-off-fiery-da-openings-2024-4">Trump trial</a> is dominating the news.<br /><br />And, as in 2020, this is an election year.<br /><br />"The Biden administration, particularly the White House, has been incredibly quiet on this bird flu situation. Why? To me, it looks like they very much don't want to scare the public and spook the economy in an election year," Adams said.<br /><br /><h2>Business vs. public health</h2>Just like the lockdowns of COVID-19 were devastating for the restaurant and hospitality industries, a crackdown on avian flu can be devastating to the chicken industry.<br /><br />The treatment for a <keyword id="1433269" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="bird-flu-outbreak" source="Orion">bird flu outbreak</keyword> is to kill all the chickens. Even before that, just testing the flock can slow down production.<br /><br />"We're seeing the same tension between business interests and public health interests," Adams said.<br /><br />What's more, many of the workers who handle chickens and cattle are undocumented immigrants. That can make them and their bosses hesitant to call in authorities over diseased animals.<br /><br />Many vulnerable groups were hesitant to report illness in the early COVID days, too, including migrant workers and people who didn't have sick leave from work.<br /><br />"My concern is we keep making the same mistakes over and over again," Adams said. "Because we keep focusing on the wrong things instead of focusing on the root causes."<br /><br />

Bird flu could jump to humans any day. A former surgeon general says it feels like 2020 again.

<ul class="summary-list"><li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bird-flu-avian-influenza-outbreak-us-h5n1-wiping-out-everything-2023-4">H5N1 avian influenza, also called bird flu</a>, is spreading through US chickens and now cattle.</li><li>The FDA discovered genetic material from the virus in grocery store milk.</li></ul><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/got-milk-gen-z-problem-realistically-unhealthy-2023-4">Milk</a> might contain remnants of the <keyword id="21348322" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="H5N1" source="keywords">H5N1</keyword> <keyword id="20396857" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="bird-flu" source="keywords">bird flu</keyword> virus that's raging through US chickens and cattle.<br /><br />The Food and Drug Administration <a target="_blank" href="https://www.fda.gov/food/alerts-advisories-safety-information/updates-highly-pathogenic-avian-influenza-hpai">announced</a> Tuesday that it had discovered virus particles in "some of the samples collected" throughout the milk supply chain, from the cow to the shelf. The agency did not indicate how many samples tested positive or from where, but said the detections "do not represent actual virus that may be a risk to consumers."<br /><br />However, the discovery suggests the virus has spread further through the <keyword id="21438910" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="US-cattle-population" source="Orion">US cattle population</keyword> than officials previously realized. Scientists are growing more concerned that this <keyword id="109029" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="avian-influenza" source="Orion">avian influenza</keyword> outbreak could make the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bird-flu-cattle-outbreak-repeat-mistakes-former-surgeon-general-warning-2024-4">jump into human-to-human transmission</a>.<br /><br />So far, though, many public health experts don't think this rings alarm bells about the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bird-flu-eggs-meat-milk-dairy-safety-during-outbreak-2024-4">safety of the food supply</a>.<br /><br />"I had eggs yesterday and I had milk last night, and I'll have a steak if someone gives me a steak," Dr. Jerome Adams, who was the surgeon general of the Trump administration and is now the director of health equity at Purdue University, told Business Insider on Wednesday.<br /><br />"I still believe that the way we process and cook foods is going to disable most bacteria and viruses, including this one," he said.<br /><br /><h2>Pasteurization should kill H5N1 in milk</h2>    <div type="image" title="row of cows sticking their heads through metal bars to eat hay feed" height="1500" width="2250" msid="109605298" hostid="261"></div>The FDA oversees the nation's milk supply, and the US Department of Agriculture oversees dairy cows. Both say they believe the commercial milk supply is safe, due to the pasteurization process and the practice of disposing of milk from sick cows.<br /><br />Pasteurization heats milk at a high temperature for a brief period of time to kill microbes living inside it. Some states allow the sale of unpasteurized, aka "raw," milk or cheese, which the CDC recommends avoiding.<br /><br />Public-health experts told <a target="_blank" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2024/04/23/bird-flu-virus-milk/">The Washington Post</a> and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/23/health/bird-flu-milk.html">The New York Times</a> on Tuesday that they, too, believe <keyword id="1476604" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="pasteurized-milk" source="Orion">pasteurized milk</keyword> to be safe, but that the federal government should still conduct tests to confirm that. The FDA says such tests are ongoing.<br /><br />    <div type="image" title="cow udder rigged with machine and tubes for milking" height="1500" width="2250" msid="109605301" hostid="261"></div>"It's taking them too long to be able to reassure the public about the safety of milk," Adams said.<br /><br />Some studies have shown that pasteurization deactivates H5N1 in eggs, the FDA says, and that happens at a lower temperature than milk pasteurization.<br /><br />"To date, we have seen nothing that would change our assessment that the commercial milk supply is safe. Results from multiple studies will be made available in the next few days to weeks," the FDA statement said.<br /><br /><h2>To be extra safe, cook meat and eggs all the way</h2>There's probably no "significantly increased risk," Dr. Samuel Alcaine, an associate professor of food science at Cornell University, told Business Insider on April 6, but you can <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bird-flu-eggs-meat-milk-dairy-safety-during-outbreak-2024-4">be extra safe by fully cooking your meat and eggs</a> (until the yolk is firm).<br /><br />    <div type="image" title="Person using spatula to cook steak in frying pan" height="1808" width="3000" msid="109605302" hostid="261"></div>Adams says he doesn't normally eat rare steak or runny eggs anyway.<br /><br />"That has nothing to do with H5N1. That's just me being someone who's been in public health and food safety for a long time," he said.<br /><br />His wife does eat runny eggs and rare steak, though, he added, "and I'm not telling her to change what she does."<br /><br />He added that people should still follow basic food-safety practices: Wash your hands after handling raw meat or eggs, and before handling the food you'll eat. Prevent cross-contamination from raw meats or eggs and the utensils that have touched them. Always cook poultry to an internal temperature of at least 165 degrees Fahrenheit.<br /><br /><h2>The biggest bird flu risk for humans isn't food</h2>The people who are really at risk for bird flu are those who work closely with chickens, cattle, or other livestock.<br /><br />The CDC <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cdc.gov/flu/avianflu/hpai/hpai-interim-recommendations.html">says</a> those workers should avoid unprotected, direct contact with sick animals, raw milk, animals' drinking water, animal carcasses, feces, litter, or other surfaces that could be contaminated with animals' saliva, blood, or other excretions. Workers should be provided with <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cdc.gov/flu/avianflu/h5/worker-protection-ppe.htm">personal protective equipment</a> for those situations and trained to use it properly, the agency says.<br /><br />"It's spreading rapidly in these animals, and every time it spreads, it has a chance to mutate," Adams said.<br /><br />

Bird flu particles were found in pasteurized milk. A former surgeon general says he isn't changing what he eats.

New York [US], April 5 (ANI): The <keyword id="10561122" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="bird-flu-pandemic" source="Orion">bird flu pandemic</keyword> with the potential to be "<keyword id="21202249" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="100-times-worse" source="Orion">100 times worse</keyword> than COVID" may be on the horizon after a rare human case was discovered in Texas, experts have warned, the New York Post reported on Thursday.<br /><br />The <keyword id="21202246" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="H5N1-avian-flu" source="keywords">H5N1 avian flu</keyword> has spread rapidly since a new strain was detected in 2020 affecting wild birds in every state, as well as in commercial poultry and backyard flocks. But the recent cases detected in mammals, with cattle herds across four states becoming infected and on Monday, federal health officials announced that a dairy worker in Texas caught the virus.<br /><br />"This virus [has been] on the top of the pandemic list for many, many years and probably decades," Suresh Kuchipudi, a <keyword id="95867" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="bird-flu" source="Orion">bird flu</keyword> researcher from Pittsburgh, said at a recent panel discussing the issue, the New York Post reported citing the Daily Mail.<br /><br />"And now we're getting dangerously close to this virus potentially causing a pandemic."<br /><br />He noted that the <keyword id="565908" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="H5N1-virus" source="Orion">H5N1 virus</keyword> has already been detected in species throughout the world and "has shown the ability to infect a range of mammalian hosts, including humans."<br /><br />"So therefore, in my view, I think this is a virus that has the greatest pandemic threat [that is] playing out in plain sight and globally present," Kuchipudi said.<br /><br />John Fulton, a pharmaceutical industry consultant for vaccines and the founder of Canada-based BioNiagara who organized the meeting, also expressed his concerns, the Mail reports, the New York Post reported. <br /><br />"This appears to be 100 times worse than COVID -- or it could be if it mutates and maintains its high case fatality rate," he said. "Once it's mutated to infect humans, we can only hope that the [fatality rate] drops."<br /><br />Around 52 per cent of humans who have contracted H5N1 since 2003 have died, according to the World Health Organization. For comparison, COVID currently kills less than 0.1% of those it infects -- though at the start of the pandemic, the fatality rate was around 20 per cent.<br /><br />Symptoms of the bird flu are similar to those of other flus, including cough, body aches and fever, the New York Post reported. Some people may not develop noticeable symptoms, but others can develop severe, life-threatening pneumonia.<br /><br />The dairy worker in Texas who was infected has reported "eye redness (consistent with conjunctivitis)" as their only symptom, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention noted.<br /><br />"The patient was told to isolate and is being treated with an antiviral drug for [the] flu," the CDC said.<br /><br />The agency and "the whole US government is taking this situation very seriously," CDC Director Mandy Cohen told the Washington Post. She maintained that the virus does not pose much of a risk to the general public, noting that the dairy worker was in direct contact with infected cattle, and the US Department of Agriculture has said there are currently no changes that would make it more transmissible to humans. <br /><br />"While cases among humans in direct contact with infected animals are possible, this indicates that the current risk to the public remains low," the department said in a statement over the weekend.<br /><br />But the fact that the virus has been found in cattle could mean it is starting to mutate, Cohen told the Washington Post.<br /><br />"We had not seen avian flu in cattle prior to last week. That is new," she said. "It is a reservoir for [the] virus to circulate and potentially change."<br /><br />If the virus does mutate enough to infect humans, it could spread rapidly, the European Food Safety Authority warned on Wednesday, according to Fox News.<br /><br />"If avian A [H5N1] influenza viruses acquire the ability to spread efficiently among humans, large-scale transmission could occur due to the lack of immune defences against H5 viruses in humans," the Food Safety Authority said.<br /><br />To prevent any potential spread, the US is already testing components used to create a vaccine for the virus, and two candidate vaccine viruses appear to be well-matched to protect against H5N1, the Washington Post reports.<br /><br />White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre also said the Biden administration is monitoring the threat.<br /><br />"We take the health and safety of the American people seriously," she said at her briefing on Wednesday. "It is very important to this president. Our top priority is to keep communities healthy, safe and informed." <br /><br />

Scientists warn of bird flu pandemic that could be '100 times worse' than COVID after rare human case found in US

How worried should we be about bird flu?

<keyword id="20143333" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="social-media-platform" source="keywords">Social media platform</keyword> <keyword id="20639239" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="Koo" source="keywords">Koo</keyword>, which had pitched itself as a rival and viable alternative to <keyword id="19959118" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Twitter" source="keywords">Twitter</keyword> (now X), is shutting down with co-founders on Wednesday penning a heartfelt note about tough decisions and little yellow bird bidding "final goodbye". In a post on <keyword id="19951562" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="LinkedIn" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="LinkedIn" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="LinkedIn">LinkedIn</keyword>, co-founders <keyword id="20760806" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="aprameya-radhakrishna" source="keywords">Aprameya Radhakrishna</keyword> and Mayank Bidawatka announced that the platform will be discontinuing its services to the public, as talks for a <keyword id="19900447" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="partnership" source="keywords">partnership</keyword> with multiple larger internet companies, conglomerates and media houses did not yield the desired outcomes. <br /><br /> "We explored partnership with multiple larger internet companies, conglomerates and media houses but these talks didn't yield the outcome we wanted," the note said. <br /><br /> The duo said that although they would have liked to keep the app running, "the cost of technology services to keep social media app running is high and we've had to take this tough decision". <br /><br /> Koo at its peak grossed about 2.1 million daily active users, about 10 million monthly active users, and over 9,000 VIPs that included some of the most prominent personalities from various fields. "We were just months away from beating Twitter in <keyword id="19895063" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="india" source="keywords">India</keyword> in 2022, and could have doubled down on that short term goal with capital behind us," they said. <br /><br /> A <keyword id="20041080" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="funding-winter" source="keywords">funding winter</keyword>, however hit the company at its peak, hurting plans and forcing the platform to "tone down" its growth trajectory. <br /><br /> "Unfortunately for us, the mood of the market and the funding winter got better of us," the note mentioned as the founders signed off saying, "the little yellow bird says its final goodbye" in a reference to Koo's yellow bird logo. <br /><br /> It may be recalled that Koo's popularity in India peaked around 2021 amid the Indian government's spat with Twitter (now X) and growing calls for expanding the ecosystem of homegrown digital platforms. At its peak, Koo had experienced heady growth in its user metrics as union ministers and government departments at that time heavily endorsed the homegrown microblogging platform.

Curtains down for Koo; founders say little yellow bird bids final goodbye

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Bird hotels in Indonesia try to attract swiftlets, whose edible nests are a delicacy in China.</li><li>The swiftlet nests, made of dried saliva, are used to make bird's nest soup.</li></ul><p>People in Indonesia are building fancy hotels aimed at attracting a very specific type of clientele: swiftlets, small birds whose <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/birds-nest-soup-harvesters-dangerous-jobs-philippines-2022-6">edible nests</a> are considered a delicacy in Chinese cuisine.</p><p>The nests, made of dried swiftlet saliva, sell for high prices and are used to make bird's nest soup, which involves dissolving the nest in water. The resulting soup has a gelatin-like texture, is believed to bring numerous health benefits, and has been consumed in China for at least hundreds of years.</p><p>The nests themselves can sell for over a thousand dollars per pound, earning the nickname <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-birds-nest-soup-is-made-2016-6">"the caviar of the East,"</a> while <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/birds-nest-soup-delicacy-asian-cuisine-culture-so-expensive-2019-2">bird's nest soup can go for over $100</a>.</p><div type="image" title="This picture taken on May 23, 2017 shows a woman eating a birds nest dessert in the NestCha restaurant in Shanghai." height="3712" width="5568" msid="108989664" hostid="261" sizebytes="1395712"></div><p>In Indonesia, which claims to be the largest exporter of swiflet nests in the world, more and more people have built structures to attract the swiftlets and harvest their nests, according to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/02/world/asia/indonesia-borneo-birdnest-soup.html">The New York Times</a>. The number of birdhouses in the Sambas Regency region alone has increased by five times over the past decade.</p><p>Because of the increased competition, birdhouse owners are going to great lengths to compete against each other and draw in the swiftlets, which are actually pretty picky about where they choose to build their nests.</p><p>Typically swiftlets would nest in caves throughout Southeast Asia, where harvesting the nests off cave faces and the edges of cliffs can be risky business.</p><p>Zulkibli, a government employee in Indonesia who built a 50-feet-tall birdhouse for swiftlets, told the Times in order to attract the birds you need to treat them like "rich humans" and make them comfortable.</p><div type="image" title="This picture taken on May 10, 2017 shows swiftlets making nests in the roof of a building in Myeik city, Tanintharyi Region in southeastern Myanmar." height="1932" width="2898" msid="108989665" hostid="261" sizebytes="660164"></div><p>"Comfort, by regulating the temperature," Zulkibli said. "Safety, by keeping pests and predators away. The swiftlet house must be really clean. They don't even like spiders."</p><p>Some people remodel the top floors of homes to make them into birdhouses for swiftlets. Some play sounds that mimc the echolocation sound of the swiftlet in order to attract them.</p><p>However, Zulkibli said that the increase in birdhouses and the climate crisis have made the birds rare, with some farmers quitting altogether.</p><p>While the swiftlet housing boom has made bird's nest soup more popular, the future of the wild swiftlet population is uncertain, according to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.audubon.org/news/birds-nest-soup-more-popular-ever-thanks-swiftlet-house-farms">Audubon</a>.</p>

These bird nests sell for such a high price in China that huge bird hotels have sprung up to harvest the 'caviar of the East'

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The bird flu, or avian influenza, is increasingly worrying public-health experts.</li><li>The <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bird-flu-avian-influenza-outbreak-us-h5n1-wiping-out-everything-2023-4">H5N1 bird flu virus</a> is changing, creeping closer to humans, and getting more opportunities to adapt.</li></ul><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bird-flu-virus-h5n1-new-human-case-michigan-respiratory-symptoms-2024-6">Bird flu</a> is flying wild, and it has many infectious disease experts more worried now than ever.</p><p>The H5N1 avian influenza virus has killed tens of millions of birds across the planet and more than 40,000 sea lions and seals. For animals, it's a pandemic.</p><p>Still, the CDC says the risk to humans is low. Most people seem to have very little chance, if any, of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bird-flu-eggs-meat-milk-dairy-safety-during-outbreak-2024-4">catching H5N1 avian influenza</a> right now.</p><p>Only three people in the US have tested positive for the virus since its <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bird-flu-cattle-outbreak-repeat-mistakes-former-surgeon-general-warning-2024-4">surprising break into the cattle population</a>, and they all had direct contact with infected cows.</p><div type="image" title="farmer man in overalls blue and white button shirt and camo cap reaches over a wooden fence to scratch a cow wearing a bow inside an indoors stall full of hay" height="1500" width="2250" msid="110949087" hostid="261" sizebytes="321112"></div><p>But infectious disease experts are increasingly concerned that the H5N1 virus could <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/3-viruses-scientists-are-watching-for-the-next-pandemic-2022-4">make a sustained jump into humans</a> and start spreading among us. That's not inevitable, but several recent developments suggest it's a growing threat.</p><p>"There's a lot going on," Dr. Monica Gandhi, a professor of medicine and associate chief of the Division of HIV, Infectious Diseases, and Global Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, told Business Insider. "I'm becoming more worried."</p><p>You shouldn't panic, but you should probably know what's going on. This virus is a leading candidate for <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bill-gates-says-world-needs-billion-year-prevent-next-pandemic-2022-6">the next pandemic</a>, and four developments in the past month have experts worried.</p><p>Here's what you need to know.</p><h2 id="a6efdbe9-4727-4b3a-b934-ceccc3f63ba8">Bird flu hospitalized a child in Australia</h2><p id="a6efdbe9-4727-4b3a-b934-ceccc3f63ba8">On Friday the World Health Organization announced that a 2-year-old had become Australia's first human case of H5N1 in March.</p><p id="a6efdbe9-4727-4b3a-b934-ceccc3f63ba8">After returning from travel to Kolkata, India, the child's symptoms — loss of appetite, fever, coughing, vomiting, and irritability, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.who.int/emergencies/disease-outbreak-news/item/2024-DON519">according</a> to WHO — put them in the hospital for two and a half weeks, including admission to the intensive care unit.</p><p id="a6efdbe9-4727-4b3a-b934-ceccc3f63ba8">As human cases crop up in different parts of the world, epidemiologists like Christopher Dye become more concerned.</p><p id="a6efdbe9-4727-4b3a-b934-ceccc3f63ba8">"There's such a vast amount of virus at the moment. And clearly it is changing, and it's doing new and unexpected things," Dye, a professor and senior research fellow at the University of Oxford, told BI.</p><div type="image" title="researcher in white lab coat blue medical gloves and protective goggles works with an ice bucket containing small samples of milk in a lab" height="1500" width="2250" msid="110949085" hostid="261" sizebytes="166070"></div><p id="a6efdbe9-4727-4b3a-b934-ceccc3f63ba8">He recently co-authored a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bmj.com/content/385/bmj.q1199.full">paper</a>, published in the medical journal BMJ, arguing that the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-real-is-the-last-of-us-science-behind-fungus-pandemic-2023-1">risk of a major human outbreak</a> is "large, plausible, and imminent."</p><p id="a6efdbe9-4727-4b3a-b934-ceccc3f63ba8">"<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/influenza-more-worrisone-than-zika-ebola-2016-4">Influenza has always been a concern</a> for decades and decades, and this particular form of influenza for at least two decades," Dye said. "But now, it's risen to a level of concern, I think, which is greater than ever before."</p><h2 id="17691a35-dcc3-4171-8b3c-1c847c1e9bb6">Mice could bring bird flu into homes</h2><p>A total of 47 house mice have tested positive for H5N1 in New Mexico, the US Department of Agriculture reported on Tuesday.</p><p>"Mice are kind of everywhere," Gandhi said. "They're around other animals, they're around humans a lot. And it's a little worrisome."</p><div type="image" title="brown mouse with white belly sits eating small piece of something in the snow" height="1500" width="2250" msid="110949089" hostid="261" sizebytes="37666"></div><p id="ee352b94-e3c2-472b-a4d0-8ea01e066eff">The samples were collected from the sick mice in early May. According to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/why-the-discovery-of-h5n1-bird-flu-in-mice-is-so-alarming/">The Telegraph</a>, scientists suspect that the mice, as well as some domestic cats, may have gotten the virus from <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bird-flu-milk-food-safety-former-surgeon-general-doctor-2024-4">drinking raw milk from infected cows</a>. (Public health experts resoundingly advise that people should not drink unpasteurized, aka "raw," milk.)</p><p id="ee352b94-e3c2-472b-a4d0-8ea01e066eff">"This brings the virus closer to human homes," Rick Bright, former director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, told The Telegraph. "This is out of control," he added.</p><p id="ee352b94-e3c2-472b-a4d0-8ea01e066eff">Every new population of animals, and every new exposure to humans, is another opportunity for <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/woman-hiv-had-coronavirus-216-days-virus-mutated-2021-6">the virus to mutate</a> and adapt.</p><h2 id="abc7e6b4-b179-449b-b66c-ad52a39458d8">One mutation suggests the virus has started adapting</h2><div type="image" title="h5n1 virus microscope image shows black and white long straight worm-shaped organism" height="1500" width="2250" msid="110949092" hostid="261" sizebytes="157400"></div><p id="abc7e6b4-b179-449b-b66c-ad52a39458d8">When the CDC analyzed a virus sample from the second US farmworker infected, they spotted a mutation in the virus's replication machinery — the way it gets inside its host's cells to make copies of itself.</p><p id="abc7e6b4-b179-449b-b66c-ad52a39458d8">It's a change "associated with viral adaptation to mammalian hosts," the CDC said in a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cdc.gov/flu/avianflu/spotlights/2023-2024/h5n1-technical-update-may-24-2024.html">statement in May</a>. The statement also said that studies in mice indicate this type of genetic mutation in the virus is associated with more severe disease and enhanced viral replication.</p><p id="abc7e6b4-b179-449b-b66c-ad52a39458d8">That doesn't make it a human virus yet, though.</p><p id="abc7e6b4-b179-449b-b66c-ad52a39458d8">Other than this one change, H5N1 has mainly "avian virus properties and not human virus properties," Richard Webby, a virologist at St. Jude and director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Studies on the Ecology of Influenza in Animals and Birds, told BI.</p><p id="abc7e6b4-b179-449b-b66c-ad52a39458d8">That means the virus is better adapted to thrive and spread among birds, not humans.</p><p id="abc7e6b4-b179-449b-b66c-ad52a39458d8">Still, that could change.</p><h2 id="ddfee4b3-1706-4652-9418-5ae34679d762">The latest US case had a troubling cough</h2><p id="ddfee4b3-1706-4652-9418-5ae34679d762">The first two farmworkers to test positive for H5N1 in the US had <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/health/treatments/pink-eye-treatment">pink eye</a>. But the third case, reported in Michigan in May, featured a cough and sore throat.</p><p id="ddfee4b3-1706-4652-9418-5ae34679d762">That means H5N1 was in that worker's respiratory system, which is a scarier place to find a threatening virus than in our eyes.</p><p id="ddfee4b3-1706-4652-9418-5ae34679d762">For one thing, it's easier to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-covid-positive-biden-statement-meadows-book-coughing-on-people-2021-12">spread a virus by coughing</a> or sneezing than by, well, sharing eye fluid.</p><div type="image" title="A man coughing" height="1439" width="2084" msid="110949086" hostid="261" sizebytes="169668"></div><p id="ddfee4b3-1706-4652-9418-5ae34679d762">The good news is that, as far as scientists can tell, H5N1 is still not adapted to humans enough to transmit between us. The CDC has reported no evidence that the coughing farmworker spread the virus to anyone else.</p><p id="ddfee4b3-1706-4652-9418-5ae34679d762">But that doesn't mean H5N1 can't mutate to achieve human-to-human transmission — which brings us to the second unfortunate reality of this farmworker's respiratory infection. </p><p id="ddfee4b3-1706-4652-9418-5ae34679d762">Compared to the eyes, human lungs are a more convenient place for an avian virus to get more mammalian, according to Webby. In the lungs, the virus is exposed to more of the cell receptors that a mammalian virus would bind to, giving H5N1 more opportunity to mutate and start grabbing onto those receptors — thereby becoming better adapted to infecting and spreading between humans.</p><p>Many experts fear the USDA and CDC aren't monitoring cattle and farmworkers closely enough to catch concerning<strong> </strong>mutations early, and that other human cases may be going undetected.</p><div type="image" title="blue gloved hands in a white lab coat hold a large syringe and a lab tube of fluid" height="1500" width="2250" msid="110949093" hostid="261" sizebytes="47636"></div><p>"I think there's enough of a threat here to be very alert so that we have a surveillance system in place that, as soon as this happens, we can find it," Dye said.</p><h2 id="048d06aa-b91d-4421-b98b-5ae259b70f87">Vaccines are in the works</h2><p id="048d06aa-b91d-4421-b98b-5ae259b70f87">The good news is that bird flu is <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/august-flu-vs-covid-infection-rate-2023-8">not COVID-19</a>. Scientists have been tracking this virus and its entire viral family tree, watching for any sign of a growing threat to humans, for decades.</p><p id="048d06aa-b91d-4421-b98b-5ae259b70f87">As a result, the key elements of a vaccine are already on standby. The US is beginning to manufacture millions of vaccines using "candidate vaccine viruses" — weakened influenza viruses — that the CDC has developed.</p><div type="image" title="how does the flu shot work" height="1414" width="2121" msid="110949090" hostid="261" sizebytes="78400"></div><p id="048d06aa-b91d-4421-b98b-5ae259b70f87">Though the candidates are not necessarily perfect matches to H5N1, and the vaccines' use of eggs may be a manufacturing roadblock if bird flu is sweeping the chicken population, they may provide some immunity in the case of a human outbreak.</p><p id="048d06aa-b91d-4421-b98b-5ae259b70f87">Furthermore, scientists now have proven <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mrna-vaccine-pfizer-moderna-coronavirus-2020-12">mRNA vaccine technology</a> at the ready. Vaccines that use mRNA, of which the COVID-19 vaccines were the first approved for use, are more flexible and faster to develop than traditional vaccines — and they don't require eggs.</p><div type="image" title="white shiny eggs on a machine coming out of a pink glowing chamber" height="1500" width="2667" msid="110949091" hostid="261" sizebytes="187078"></div><p id="048d06aa-b91d-4421-b98b-5ae259b70f87">Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have already <a target="_blank" href="https://www.pennmedicine.org/news/news-releases/2024/may/penn-researchers-develop-experimental-mrna-avian-flu-vaccine">developed</a> an experimental mRNA vaccine for H5N1, which they've successfully<strong> </strong>tested in mice and ferrets.</p><p id="048d06aa-b91d-4421-b98b-5ae259b70f87">If H5N1 becomes a problem in humans, a vaccine could be offered with the flu shot you get later this year.</p><p id="048d06aa-b91d-4421-b98b-5ae259b70f87">In the meantime, bird flu is a looming threat to keep an eye on.</p><p id="048d06aa-b91d-4421-b98b-5ae259b70f87">"As far as I can see, this is not going to go away anytime soon," Dye said.</p>

Why 4 new bird flu developments have experts worried about the virus

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Chinese state TV showed armed commandos riding electric skateboards in a combat exercise.</li><li>The naval special forces also deployed drones designed to flap like an eagle and a sparrow.</li></ul><p>China's special forces showcased electric skateboards, jet surfboards, and other gadgets in a combat demonstration televised on Thursday.</p><p>The state's China Military TV aired the live-fire exercise, which was held at the Nanchang Infantry Academy in Jiangxi to commemorate the People's Liberation Army's 97th anniversary.</p><p><a target="_blank" class="" href="https://weibo.com/1624195875/OqgOqaR90?refer_flag=1001030103_&amp;layerid=5062611582587570">In the TV segment</a>, several soldiers from the Jiaolong Commandos, an elite amphibious unit under the Chinese navy, were shown riding jet-powered surfboards in a garden lake.</p><div type="image" title="A Chinese naval commando rides on a jet-powered surfboard at a military academy." height="1128" width="1390" msid="112279289" hostid="261" sizebytes="24728"></div><p>One commando launched a winged drone designed to resemble a sparrow.</p><p>Later, a half-dozen commandos armed with assault rifles exited a treeline on powered skateboards — which a state TV narrator said were electric.</p><div type="image" title="Chinese troops ride electric skateboards on a paved road." height="1260" width="2227" msid="112279284" hostid="261" sizebytes="134252"></div><p>As they sped down a paved road, one commando at the head of the pack held a drone designed to look like a giant eagle. The drone eventually flapped away as he hurled it into the air while operating the skateboard.</p><div type="image" title="A Chinese commando on an electric skateboard threw a drone designed to look like an eagle at a televised combat exercise." height="886" width="1016" msid="112279294" hostid="261" sizebytes="34564"></div><p>As they entered a compound with firing targets, one of the troops released a handheld drone carried by four small propellers, which rushed into a wall and exploded.</p><p>The commandos advanced through a field on their skateboards, dismounting to shoot targets and throwing a flare.</p><p>Several then showcased an explosive breach on a plywood structure and retrieved a dummy, which they stowed onto a pickup truck.</p><div type="image" title="Chinese troops showcased a breach of a plywood wall at an outdoor combat exercise." height="806" width="1148" msid="112279292" hostid="261" sizebytes="29298"></div><p>The entire team then gathered and departed the area in the pickup.</p><div type="image" title="A Chinese commando provides cover fire as his team member enters a pick-up truck." height="671" width="1337" msid="112279295" hostid="261" sizebytes="28738"></div><p>Other televised demonstrations included the use of a jetpack, similar to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suHOLFhbwsM">one tested by Gravity Industries for the UK's Royal Marines</a>, a surveillance quadcopter drone, and a remote-controlled drone that ripped through a paper target.</p><p>While not used on a wider scale by other major militaries, personal electric vehicles are starting to appear in combat zones. Russian military bloggers recently reported that Russian troops in Ukraine <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://lenta.ru/news/2024/07/10/rossiyskie-voennye-v-zone-svo-pereseli-na-elektrosamokaty/">have been using electric scooters</a> to move quietly between positions.</p><p>In the Donbas, pro-Russian militias were also reported to be using <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russian-separatists-on-motorcycles-appear-assault-ukrainian-positions-outwit-drones-2024-4">motorcycles to avoid being spotted by drones.</a></p><p>The fighting in Ukraine has heightened interest around the world in cheaper, more versatile weapons like first-person drones.</p><p>The US Army, for example, asked in its <a target="_blank" href="https://comptroller.defense.gov/Portals/45/Documents/defbudget/FY2025/FY2025_Weapons.pdf">fiscal budget for 2025</a> for $2.4 billion to develop low-cost drones.</p>

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