Best printers for Home

Best Mixer Grinder

Best wired Earphones

Best 43 Inch TV in India

Best Wi Fi Routers

Best Home Theatre in India

Smart Watch under 5000

Best Laptops for Education

Best Laptop for Students

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. 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. "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. "And now we're getting dangerously close to this virus potentially causing a pandemic." 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." "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. 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. "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." 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. 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. 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. "The patient was told to isolate and is being treated with an antiviral drug for [the] flu," the CDC said. 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. "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. But the fact that the virus has been found in cattle could mean it is starting to mutate, Cohen told the Washington Post. "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." 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. "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. 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. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre also said the Biden administration is monitoring the threat. "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."

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

The <keyword id="8858345" type="General" weightage="60" keywordseo="sars-cov-2" source="Orion">SARS-CoV-2</keyword> virus is found in the lungs of certain individuals for up to 18 months after the infection, according to a study. One to two weeks after contracting COVID, the SARS-CoV-2 virus generally becomes undetectable in the upper respiratory tract. A team from the Institut Pasteur in collaboration with a French public research institute, the Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), conducted the study on lung cells in an animal model. The results, published in the journal Nature Immunology, show not only that SARS-CoV-2 is found in the lungs of certain individuals for up to 18 months after infection, but also that its persistence appears to be linked to a failure of innate immunity, the first line of defense against pathogens. Some viruses persist in the body in a discreet and undetectable manner after causing an infection. They remain in what are known as 'viral reservoirs', the researchers said. This is the case for HIV, which remains latent in certain immune cells and can reactivate at any time. It could also be the case for the SARS-CoV-2 virus which causes <keyword id="8763838" type="General" weightage="90" keywordseo="covid-19" source="Orion">COVID-19</keyword>, they said. "We observed that inflammation persisted for long periods in primates that had been infected by SARS-CoV-2. We therefore suspected that it could be due to the presence of the virus in the body," said Michaela Muller-Trutwin, Head of the Institut Pasteur's HIV, Inflammation and Persistence Unit. The study analysed biological samples from animal models that had been infected by the virus. Initial results from the study indicate that viruses were found in the lungs of some individuals six to 18 months after infection, even though the virus was undetectable in the upper respiratory tract or blood. The researchers also found that the amount of persistent virus in the lungs was lower for the Omicron strain than for the original SARS-CoV-2 strain. "We were really surprised to find viruses in certain immune cells - alveolar macrophages - after such a long period and when regular PCR tests were negative," said Nicolas Huot, first author of the study and researcher in the Institut Pasteur's HIV, Inflammation and Persistence Unit. "What's more, we cultured these viruses and were able to observe, using the tools we developed to study HIV, that they were still capable of replicating," Huot said. To understand the role of innate immunity in controlling these viral reservoirs, the scientists then turned their attention to NK (natural killer) cells. "The cellular response of innate immunity, which is the body's first line of defense, has been little studied in SARS-CoV-2 infections until now," said Muller-Trutwin. "Yet it has long been known that NK cells play an important role in controlling viral infections," the researcher said. The study shows that in some animals, macrophages infected with SARS-CoV-2 become resistant to destruction by NK cells, while in others, NK cells are able to adapt to infection (known as adaptive NK cells) and destroy resistant cells, in this case macrophages. The study sheds light on a mechanism that may explain the presence of viral reservoirs. While individuals with little or no long-term virus had adaptive NK cell production, individuals with higher levels of virus had not only an absence of adaptive NK cells, but also a reduction in NK cell activity, the researchers added.

Covid virus can persist in lungs for up to two years: Study

<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. 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. 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. 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>. 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. <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. 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. <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. "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." 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. <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? The answer is, sort of, all of them. That decentralized responsibility could be behind the lack of widespread, clear public messaging so far. 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. He compared it to the development of COVID-19 vaccines, when people distrusted a process they didn't understand. <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. 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. <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. "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." 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. 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. <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. And, as in 2020, this is an election year. "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. <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. 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. "We're seeing the same tension between business interests and public health interests," Adams said. 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. 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. "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."

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

Legendary <keyword id="19918921" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Hollywood-actor" source="keywords">Hollywood actor</keyword> <keyword id="20740436" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="Al-Pacino" source="keywords">Al Pacino</keyword>, known for his iconic roles in The Godfather trilogy and Scarface, recently opened up about a terrifying moment during the <keyword id="19897423" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="COVID-19" source="keywords">COVID-19</keyword> pandemic when he thought he had "experienced death." The 84-year-old actor, in an interview with <keyword id="20038431" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="People-magazine" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="People magazine" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="People magazine">People magazine</keyword>, recounted how he fainted while battling the virus in 2020 and was left questioning his very existence when a nurse attending to him couldn’t detect a pulse. Pacino revealed that it was his "great assistant" Michael Quinn who quickly acted, summoning paramedics to his <keyword id="19914983" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Los-Angeles" source="keywords">Los Angeles</keyword> home. "He got the people coming, because the nurse that was taking care of me said, 'I don't feel a pulse on this guy,'" Pacino recalled, describing the scene as something straight out of a movie. For a brief moment, the actor believed he had passed away. "I thought I experienced death," Pacino said, "because how did all those people gather together? There was an ambulance in front of my house, six paramedics in my living room, and two of my doctors in space suits. I opened my eyes and thought, 'What happened to me?'" But despite the dramatic circumstances, Pacino doesn’t seem too shaken by the ordeal. "Everybody thought I was dead. I didn't," he said. "If I was dead, I fainted. And when I came to, it was all gone." Quoting Shakespeare's famous line from Hamlet—“To be, or not to be”—Pacino mused on the fragility of life but admitted the experience didn’t leave any lasting change on how he lives. When asked whether the health scare had any effect on his outlook, Pacino simply responded, "Not at all." Pacino, who has lived a life filled with memorable roles, fame, and critical acclaim, seems to be taking this near-brush with death in stride. In fact, he’s keeping busy, with his upcoming memoir *Sonny Boy* on the horizon and a role in <keyword id="19920478" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Johnny-Depp" source="keywords">Johnny Depp</keyword>'s directorial project *Modi - Three Days on the Wing of Madness*, which is set for a December 5 release. While many may see such a health scare as a turning point, Pacino remains remarkably unchanged by it. His outlook on life and death, much like his characters on screen, is marked by a sense of calm amidst the chaos. Whether fainting during a pandemic or standing before the camera, Pacino's resilient spirit continues to define him as one of Hollywood's most enduring stars.

'I thought I experienced death': Al Pacino talks about battling Covid-19

<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><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.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.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.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.<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>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."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."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.Here's what you need to know.<h2 id="a6efdbe9-4727-4b3a-b934-ceccc3f63ba8">Bird flu hospitalized a child in Australia</h2>On Friday the World Health Organization announced that a 2-year-old had become Australia's first human case of H5N1 in March.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.As human cases crop up in different parts of the world, epidemiologists like Christopher Dye become more concerned."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.<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>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.""<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."<h2 id="17691a35-dcc3-4171-8b3c-1c847c1e9bb6">Mice could bring bird flu into homes</h2>A total of 47 house mice have tested positive for H5N1 in New Mexico, the US Department of Agriculture reported on Tuesday."Mice are kind of everywhere," Gandhi said. "They're around other animals, they're around humans a lot. And it's a little worrisome."<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>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.)"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.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.<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>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.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.That doesn't make it a human virus yet, though.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.That means the virus is better adapted to thrive and spread among birds, not humans.Still, that could change.<h2 id="ddfee4b3-1706-4652-9418-5ae34679d762">The latest US case had a troubling cough</h2>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.That means H5N1 was in that worker's respiratory system, which is a scarier place to find a threatening virus than in our eyes.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.<div type="image" title="A man coughing" height="1439" width="2084" msid="110949086" hostid="261" sizebytes="169668"></div>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.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. 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.Many experts fear the USDA and CDC aren't monitoring cattle and farmworkers closely enough to catch concerning mutations early, and that other human cases may be going undetected.<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>"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.<h2 id="048d06aa-b91d-4421-b98b-5ae259b70f87">Vaccines are in the works</h2>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.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.<div type="image" title="how does the flu shot work" height="1414" width="2121" msid="110949090" hostid="261" sizebytes="78400"></div>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.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.<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>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 tested in mice and ferrets.If H5N1 becomes a problem in humans, a vaccine could be offered with the flu shot you get later this year.In the meantime, bird flu is a looming threat to keep an eye on."As far as I can see, this is not going to go away anytime soon," Dye said.

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

Emerging evidence suggests that <keyword id="8952494" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="covid-virus" source="Orion">Covid virus</keyword> can have lasting effects on nearly every organ and organ system of the body weeks, months and potentially years after infection, an updated Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (<keyword id="6379474" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="cdc" source="Orion">CDC</keyword>) guidance for certifying deaths due to coronavirus disease has revealed. In the acute phase, clinical manifestations and complications of Covid-19 of varying degrees have been documented, including death. However, patients who recover from the acute phase of the infection can still suffer long-term effects, commonly referred to as "long <keyword id="8764262" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="covid" source="Orion">Covid</keyword>". Now, the expanded CDC guidance suggests that documented serious post-Covid conditions include cardiovascular, pulmonary, neurological, renal, endocrine, haematological, and gastrointestinal complications as well as death. "For decedents, who had a previous SARSCoV-2 infection and were diagnosed with a post-Covid condition, the certifier may consider the possibility that the death was due to long-term complications of Covid-19, even if the original infection occurred months or years before death," according to the updated Vital Statistics Reporting Guidance. In some cases, survival from Covid can be complicated by pre-existing chronic conditions, especially those that result in diminished lung capacity, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or asthma. These medical conditions do not cause Covid-19, but can increase the risk of contracting a respiratory infection and death, said the CDC guidance. Long Covid has also been associated with reduced brain oxygen levels, worse performance on cognitive tests and increased psychiatric symptoms such as depression and anxiety, according to new research from the University of Waterloo in Canada. At least 65 million people are thought to have long Covid, according to a latest review of 200 Covid-19 studies published in Nature Reviews Microbiology journal. The US-based researchers estimate that the condition is present in 10 per cent of more than 651 million Covid-19 cases that have been documented worldwide. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/gadgets/news/noise-and-fire-boltt-entered-in-top-five-in-global-smartwatch-shipments/articleshow/98171390.cms">These two Indian brands have together sold more smartwatches than Samsung in 2022</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/gadgets/news/four-out-of-five-wireless-earbuds-sold-in-india-in-2022-were-from-an-indian-company/articleshow/98141414.cms">Four out of five wireless earbuds sold in India in 2022 were from an Indian company</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/personal-finance/news/how-to-compare-your-tax-liability-in-old-and-new-tax-regimes/articleshow/98116217.cms">How to compare your tax liability in old and new tax regimes</a>

Covid virus can have lasting effects on nearly every organ for years: CDC

As many as 290 cases of <keyword id="21545939" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="KP-2" source="keywords">KP.2</keyword> and 34 cases of <keyword id="21748081" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="KP-1" source="keywords">KP.1</keyword>, both sub-lineages of COVID-19 that are responsible for surge in cases in Singapore, have been found in India, according to official data. However, a source in the Union health ministry told PTI that they are all sub variants of <keyword id="20115417" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="JN1" source="keywords">JN1</keyword> and there is no associated increase in hospitalisation and severe cases. "So there is no reason for concern or panic. The mutations will keep happening at a rapid pace and this is the natural behaviour of viruses like SARS-CoV2," the source said. The source further said that the INSACOG surveillance is sensitive and is able to pick up the emergence of any new variant and samples are also picked from hospitals in a structured manner to detect any change in the severity of disease due to virus. Data compiled by the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) showed that 34 cases of KP.1 have been found across seven states and UTs with 23 cases registered from West Bengal. The other states are Goa (1), Gujarat (2), Haryana (1), Maharashtra (4) Rajasthan (2) and Uttarakhand (1). As many as 290 cases of KP.2 have been registered with Maharashtra reporting the highest number at 148, according to the data. The other states and Union territories are Delhi (1), Goa (12), Gujarat (23), Haryana (3), Karnataka (4), Madhya Pradesh (1), Odisha (17), Rajasthan (21), Uttar Pradesh (8), Uttarakhand (16) and West Bengal (36). Singapore is seeing a new COVID-19 wave as the authorities recorded more than 25,900 cases from May 5 to 11 with KP.1 and KP.2 accounting for over two-thirds of cases in Singapore. Globally, the predominant COVID-19 variants are still JN.1 and its sub-lineages, including KP.1 and KP.2. KP.1 and KP.2 belong to a group of COVID-19 variants scientists have nicknamed 'FLiRT', after the technical names of their mutations. The strains in FLiRT are all descendants of the JN.1 variant, an offshoot of the Omicron variant. KP.2 was classified by the World Health Organization as a Variant Under Monitoring.

290 cases of COVID-19 variant KP.2, 34 cases of KP.1 detected in India: INSACOG data

Researchers have identified a protein found in superbugs that enhances SARS-CoV-2 replication by 10- to 15-fold. Global data shows nearly 10 per cent of severe Covid-19 cases involve a secondary bacterial co-infection - with <keyword id="401097" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="staphylococcus" source="Orion">Staphylococcus</keyword> aureus, also known as staph A, being the most common organism responsible for co-existing infections with SARS-CoV-2. The study, published in the journal iScience, revealed that the addition of a "superbug" - methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) - into the mix could make the Covid-19 outcome even more deadly. While the mystery of how and why the combination of these two pathogens contributes to the severity of the disease remained unsolved, the researchers identified a protein - IsdA - found in all strains of staph A which boosts SARS-CoV-2 replication by 10- to 15-fold. The findings of this study are significant and could help inform the development of new therapeutic approaches for Covid-19 patients with bacterial co-infections. Interestingly, the study also showed that SARS-CoV-2 did not affect the bacteria's growth. This was contrary to what the researchers had initially expected. "We started with an assumption that SARS-CoV-2 and hospitalisation due to Covid-19 possibly caused patients to be more susceptible to bacterial infections which eventually resulted in worse outcomes," said <keyword id="16892593" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="mariya-goncheva" source="Orion">Mariya Goncheva</keyword>, Professor of biochemistry and microbiology at the University of Victoria. <keyword id="16892594" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="goncheva" source="Orion">Goncheva</keyword> said bacterial infections are most commonly acquired in hospital settings and hospitalisation increases the risk of co-infection. "Bacterial infections are one of the most significant complications of respiratory viral infections such as Covid-19 and Influenza A. Despite the use of antibiotics, 25 per cent of patients co-infected with SARS-CoV-2 and bacteria, die as a result. This is especially true for patients who are hospitalised, and even more so for those in intensive care units. We were interested in finding why this happens," said Goncheva, who conducted the study while at the <keyword id="385476" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="university-of-western-ontario" source="Orion">University of Western Ontario</keyword>. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/consistent-with-dignity-socially-acceptable-sc-mulls-panel-to-examine-less-painful-method-of-execution/articleshow/98862566.cms">'Consistent with dignity, socially acceptable', SC mulls panel to examine less painful method of execution</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/sennheiser-launches-hd-660s2-headphones-at-54990-in-india/articleshow/98862622.cms">Sennheiser launches HD 660S2 headphones at ₹54,990 in India</a>

Co-infection with 'superbug' spikes Covid virus replication by 15-fold

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The general public's attitude toward COVID is more relaxed than ever, even amid a summer surge.</li><li>Doctors say relaxed COVID precautions are to be expected and are not necessarily a bad thing.</li></ul>Gone are the days of scrubbing surfaces, sudden <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/covid-shut-down-school-two-days-after-classes-started-2022-1">school closures</a>, and social distancing.Where a positive COVID-19 test once wrought panicked <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/covid-19-mistakes-us-focus-on-contact-tracing-not-sequencing-2021-3">contract tracing </a>and guaranteed two weeks of isolation, these days, a diagnosis sparks relatively little worry for most people.Even amid a summer spike in cases — everyone from President <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/biden-tests-positive-for-covid-19-2024-7#:~:text=President%20Joe%20Biden%20tested%20positive,Press%20Secretary%20Karine%20Jean%2DPierre.">Joe Biden</a> to the 2024 Summer Olympians seems to be battling the virus — the general public's attitude toward the pandemic that upended our lives more than four years ago is more relaxed than ever.The federal public health emergency for COVID expired in May 2023, officially <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/the-covid-19-global-health-emergency-is-over-who-says-2023-5">ending the crisis</a>, at least in name, more than three years after it was first declared. Since then, thanks to high infection and immunization rates, the country has continued climbing toward the herd immunity doctors so desperately sought in the early days of the pandemic, four medical professionals told Business Insider."The risk perception and anxiety around acute COVID infection has definitely lessened," said Dr. Anita Chopra, an internist at the University of Washington medical system. "People are interacting and mingling more like in pre-pandemic times."Healthcare professionals told BI that the public's more relaxed attitude toward COVID is ultimately a good thing. <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/life-returning-to-normal-labor-market-vaccines-pandemic-2021-11">A return to normality</a> was the goal, after all.But COVID is still very present and very much a potential threat, especially for the immunocompromised and those unlucky enough to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/who-official-individuals-coronavirus-infection-unlucky-long-covid-2022-6">develop long COVID symptoms</a> — up to 10% of patients, according to some doctor estimates. Meanwhile, relaxed masking and declining vaccination rates, while to be expected at this point, could be linked to the rising case numbers doctors are seeing in clinics around the country, medical professionals told BI."We need to acknowledge that we're in a very different place now than we were at the height of the pandemic," said Dr. Eric Chow, chief of communicable disease epidemiology and immunizations at Public Health Seattle and King County. "But so long as COVID-19 continues to circulate, there are health implications to getting infected."<h2 id="8540c815-ae27-4465-8106-21a572b3f035">Evolving behaviors and beliefs</h2>Many of the early-day pandemic precautions have all but disappeared in 2024. Chief among them, according to doctors, are <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mask-mandates-lifted-states-reasonable-experts-2022-2">masking</a>, isolations, and vaccinations.Soon after the pandemic emerged, medical professionals emphasized masking as a key way to slow the spread of the virus.The face coverings quickly became a contentious cultural topic and among the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trumps-decision-to-oppose-masks-bizarre-self-sabotaging-coronavirus-pandemic-2020-6">most politicized aspects</a> of COVID. But these days, even many who once championed masks have ditched the deterrent entirely. An August 2023 Yahoo News/YouGov <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/only-12-percent-of-americans-wear-mask-in-public-194019882.html">poll</a> of 1,665 US adults found that 12% of respondents said they were masking — down from 60% in January 2022. And doctors told BI that they've seen a steady decrease in masking since then."I think the public has appropriately adjusted their attitudes to what they hear in the news and what they see around them," said Dr. Edward Jones-Lopez, infectious disease specialist with Keck Medicine at the University of Southern California.More worrying to medical professionals is the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/covid-vaccine-us-vaccination-sites-joe-biden-2021-4">decline in vaccinations.</a>While early immunization rates helped bolster immunity, vaccination uptake has been on the decline in recent years, and fewer and fewer people are keeping up to date with their booster shots, a preventive step the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.cdc.gov/covid/vaccines/stay-up-to-date.html#:~:text=Everyone%20aged%205%20years%20and,of%20updated%20COVID%2D19%20vaccine.">CDC recommends</a> in its COVID guidelines.Most medical professionals also recommend a yearly COVID-19 vaccine. There's a new shot coming out in September. But Chow, who previously worked at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at the height of the pandemic, said most people aren't aware of the recommended vaccine schedule — a challenge that is indicative of a larger problem doctors are trying to navigate in this new COVID age."People are much more fatigued by COVID messaging," he said. "We're trying to right-size the appropriate message to make sure people continue to acknowledge the health impacts of COVID."<h2 id="3c719499-920d-46e7-b315-35ec4a1cdc50">The long COVID scare</h2>Relaxed attitudes are not necessarily a bad thing, according to doctors."I think it's to be expected as we learn more about the virus over these four years and as we've developed these other COVID countermeasures to address infection," said Dr. Jessica Bender, a primary care doctor at Harbor View Medical in Seattle and the co-director at the university's long COVID clinic.On the one hand, people are generally not getting as sick as they once did when ill with COVID, medical professionals told BI. On the other hand, this summer seems to have brought yet another COVID surge with a spike in cases.People don't typically equate respiratory illnesses with the warmer months, but an increase in summer socializing combined with the general decrease in preventive measures is likely fueling the uptick, Bender said.For an unlucky subset of patients, a COVID diagnosis — even in this new relaxed era — could mean <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/long-covid-survivor-its-wrecked-my-life-2022-1">long-term challenges.</a>Doctors define long COVID as any infection related to the virus that is present for at least three months, said Chopra, who treats patients at the UW long COVID clinic. The often <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/healthcare-workers-nurses-long-covid-impact-careers-labor-shortage-2022-5">debilitating</a> condition is indiscriminate in who it affects. Up to 10% of all people who get COVID are susceptible, according to Chopra, and patients of all ages, genders, races, and vaccination statuses can present with long COVID.<div type="image" title="A young girl gets a COVID vaccine" height="2661" width="4000" msid="112065018" hostid="261" sizebytes="341938"></div>Even as the country relaxes its COVID response, doctors said they are still seeing many new patients presenting with long COVID each day. The condition has at least <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/common-long-covid-symptoms-hair-loss-vertigo-low-libido-2022-7">200 known signs and symptoms</a> that range from shortness of breath to chronic fatigue and brain fog.Doctors told BI they'd treated several patients who have been forced to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/long-covid-symptoms-disability-insurance-unemployment-quit-job-2022-11">stop working</a> or rendered unable to participate in any physical activity because of a long COVID diagnosis. A 2023 <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9721155/">study</a> published in the National Library of Medicine explored a possible link between long COVID and the risk of suicide because of the condition's tendency to inflict depression, anxiety, posttraumatic symptoms, sleep disturbances, fatigue, and cognitive deficits.Medical professionals are doing their best to understand long COVID, but admit that there's still much to learn. According to the CDC, about 17 million people <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/covid19/pulse/long-covid.htm">reported</a> having long-term COVID-19 in March 2024.For these people, the pandemic is still very real."When I treat people with long COVID, they are always masked," Chopra said.<h2 id="c71342ed-0973-4d09-978b-dae3bd11fc3e">The future of COVID</h2>As doctors look to the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/red-cross-says-world-is-dangerously-unprepared-for-next-pandemic-2023-1">future</a> of COVID, little is for sure."We always say the one thing that is predictable about COVID is its unpredictability," Chow said.But medical professionals told BI they are optimistic that even as the virus continues to evolve, the next few years will continue to look like the past year, with small seasonal surges and hopefully less intense illness.While lax attitudes may be a welcome sign of a cautious new normal, doctors said it's important to remember the lessons we've collectively learned from COVID. The precautions that proved useful against the virus protect people from other illnesses, too.Just because the world has adapted to COVID-19, medical professionals say, doesn't mean we should drop the hygiene, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/air-circulation-coronavirus-how-to-judge-ventilation-systems-2020-8">ventilation</a>, and masking lessons learned along the way."We've learned so much about how we can protect ourselves," Chow said. "It's hard to see people leave some of those precautions behind."Doctors recommend people gauge their individual risk, as well as the risk of those close to them when considering which precautions to take in this new COVID age. Most medical professionals still recommend masking, testing, and visiting a doctor after testing positive."We're aiming to get to a state where COVID is not a threat to our healthcare system," Bender said. "And not a threat to our lives and livelihoods.

You Searched For "covid virus" and got 9 results

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

ANI

Covid virus can persist in lungs for up to two years: Study

PTI

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

Morgan McFall-Johnsen

'I thought I experienced death': Al Pacino talks about battling Covid-19

BI India Bureau

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

Morgan McFall-Johnsen

Covid virus can have lasting effects on nearly every organ for years: CDC

IANS

290 cases of COVID-19 variant KP.2, 34 cases of KP.1 detected in India: INSACOG data

PTI

Co-infection with 'superbug' spikes Covid virus replication by 15-fold

IANS

Most people don't really care about COVID anymore. That's good — and bad.

Erin Snodgrass

Popular Keywords

Buying Guides