[HN Gopher] CDC confirms first severe human case of bird flu in ...
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       CDC confirms first severe human case of bird flu in U.S.
        
       Author : perihelions
       Score  : 67 points
       Date   : 2024-12-18 20:15 UTC (2 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.washingtonpost.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.washingtonpost.com)
        
       | nitred wrote:
       | Could an expert in the field provide an overview of what is known
       | for sure so far about this incident and one from a month or so
       | ago?
        
       | krunck wrote:
       | https://archive.is/oeua0
        
       | cogman10 wrote:
       | CDC press release
       | 
       | https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2024/m1218-h5n1-flu.html
        
       | tedunangst wrote:
       | Why does the article devote so many paragraphs to bird flu in
       | cows when the patient contracted it from birds and it's not the
       | strain prevalent in dairy herds?
        
         | Polizeiposaune wrote:
         | My understanding is that much of the H5N1 bird flu detected in
         | north america before this event was detected in cows and in
         | people with exposure to cows. So if you want to provide
         | background on H5N1 in america you end up talking about cows.
         | 
         | See, for instance, https://www.cdc.gov/bird-flu/situation-
         | summary/mammals.html
        
         | bee_rider wrote:
         | Did they edit it or something? The version I see has only one
         | paragraph about cows. And it is only there to explain that it
         | isn't the version going around in cows (But I did have to use
         | the archive link shared here--normally I don't like those, but
         | curiosity about a potential public health issue overrode my
         | principles).
        
           | tedunangst wrote:
           | The archive version seems to be missing several paragraphs
           | like
           | 
           | > But the virus is changing, said John Connor, an associate
           | professor of microbiology at Boston University. "It is
           | essentially going to the gym all the time and training to be
           | better," Connor said at a webinar on H5N1 this week hosted by
           | hosted by Boston University's Center on Emerging Infectious
           | Diseases. "The virus is not just getting into birds, now it's
           | getting into cows. There's evidence that it's getting into
           | other animals, cats, dogs, mink," he said. "Now what we are
           | seeing is that this is a virus that used to be only good at
           | breaking and entering into bird cells and causing disease
           | there and transmitting there, now its getting better at
           | breaking and entering into a bunch of other cells."
        
             | jacobgkau wrote:
             | Thanks for giving an example. It looks like someone added
             | an additional snapshot on the archive site which now
             | includes that paragraph. Just have to click "next" to see
             | the next snapshot.
        
         | throwup238 wrote:
         | There are two big news items about H5N1 and this article talks
         | about both of them. The CDC announced the first severe case in
         | Louisiana _and_ California declared a state of emergency
         | because of bird flu detected in cows (which is mostly just a
         | bureaucratic formality to release funds and enable agencies to
         | cooperate with less red tape).
        
           | charliebwrites wrote:
           | Why can't agencies always have easier access to funds and
           | cooperate with less red tape?
           | 
           | Seems more...efficient?
        
             | DrillShopper wrote:
             | Republicans exist and they want that money to go to tax
             | breaks for their wealthy donors.
        
       | to11mtm wrote:
       | Wait so the guy who had bleeding eyes wasn't severe?
       | 
       | Edit: Read the article, this headline is semi-clickbait.
       | 
       | Article indicates this is the first severe case related to a
       | 'backyard' (i.e. smaller farm or self-farmer range of size) farm.
       | 
       | Sooooo nothing that new aside from the bit that bird flu is still
       | around TBH.
       | 
       | It's not surprising in it's own way, we are somewhere in a
       | migratory season so these things will move around a bit more.
       | 
       | Not saying Bird flu doesn't concern me a lot, I'm just frustrated
       | by the 'oh this isn't new except the person got it from their
       | backyard coop rather than some more industrial-ish farm'.
       | 
       | Edit to Edit:
       | 
       | Ok, I guess this is the first 'technically' severe case. Not sure
       | what the details are but at TBH I'm not a doctor so...
        
         | tptacek wrote:
         | No. The "bleeding eyes" were just busted capillaries. It's a
         | super common symptom you can get just from sneezing too hard+;
         | it's happened to me --- the specific "bleeding" symptom that
         | patient had --- a bunch of times.
         | 
         | + _I 'm not saying that's what happened to him, just that it's
         | not some freaky rare "crying blood" thing._
        
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       (page generated 2024-12-18 23:00 UTC)