US detects H5N1 bird flu in swine for the first time

Re:US detects H5N1 bird flu in swine for the first time by Sunspark on Wednesday October 30, 2024 @02:26PM (#41998562)

This means the virus has now mutated enough that it was able to jump from cow or another source to pig which is not good news. Pigs are mixing chambers for this sort of thing where flus become fitter for human hosts.

This one is going to do damage if it becomes more fit. It is almost 100% lethal to ferrets due to central nervous system issues. Ferrets like mink have similar respiratory systems to humans.

We are not ferrets, but if it starts spreading it would be wise to not automatically assume that it can just be ignored. Most people already have damaged immune systems due to SARS2 and you've all heard of the idiom of the straw and the camel's back.

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Re:US detects H5N1 bird flu in swine for the first time by snovymgodym on Wednesday October 30, 2024 @02:43PM (#41998724)

> Most people already have damaged immune systems due to SARS2

How do you figure?

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Re:US detects H5N1 bird flu in swine for the first time by wumeow on Wednesday October 30, 2024 @02:47PM (#41998769)

The article mentions 36 people have already gotten it and their symptoms were mild.

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Re:US detects H5N1 bird flu in swine for the first time by dopylitty on Wednesday October 30, 2024 @04:18PM (#41999762)

While that’s true it’s good to be vigilant.

Viruses are constantly evolving and flu can also exchange parts of its genome with other flu strains (reassortment).

It may become more (or less) virulent by chance while evolving more fitness for human bodies so past results don’t guarantee future results.

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Re:US detects H5N1 bird flu in swine for the first time by veb on Wednesday October 30, 2024 @03:53PM (#41999470)

There's been a bigger outbreak in Washington it seems - https://nitter.poast.org/richardhirschs1/status/185164171224...

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Re:US detects H5N1 bird flu in swine for the first time by AnimalMuppet on Wednesday October 30, 2024 @02:28PM (#41998581)

> Most people already have damaged immune systems due to SARS2

Can you support that statement?

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Re:US detects H5N1 bird flu in swine for the first time by Sunspark on Wednesday October 30, 2024 @03:37PM (#41999292)

Yes, t-cell depletion which has resulted in a rise in the rates of other diseases showing up that were lower or under control before.

The UK government publishes data with counts of various things that you can make graphs from.

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Re:US detects H5N1 bird flu in swine for the first time by squidgedcricket on Wednesday October 30, 2024 @09:50PM (#42002629)

Could that T cell depletion have been caused by isolation and masking during the pandemic rather than covid directly?

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Re:US detects H5N1 bird flu in swine for the first time by 0dayz on Thursday October 31, 2024 @04:24AM (#42004556)

In what way would this hypothesis make sense?

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Re:US detects H5N1 bird flu in swine for the first time by squidgedcricket on Thursday October 31, 2024 @09:29PM (#42013223)

Decreased exposure to pathogens

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Re:US detects H5N1 bird flu in swine for the first time by 0dayz on Friday November 01, 2024 @04:28AM (#42015015)

While in a way true, I highly doubt it would be that significant unless there are studies showing that.

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Re:US detects H5N1 bird flu in swine for the first time by rapjr9 on Wednesday October 30, 2024 @06:19PM (#42001126)

One of the studies is mentioned here, there have been others as well:

https://time.com/6265510/covid-19-weaken-immune-system/

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