Bird flu may have mutated to be more susceptible to human infections; rising egg prices could hit households hard
A teenager who tested positive for bird flu was rushed to a Canadian hospital in critical condition with difficulty breathing, and new evidence suggests he may have been infected with a new strain of the virus that has mutated to be more contagious from person to person.
Bird flu in Canada may have mutated to become more transmissible to humans | Bird flu | The Guardian
Retailers report egg shortage as higher prices continue amid bird flu - The Washington Post
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/11/20/egg-shortage-prices-bird-flu-holidays/
On November 8, 2024, a patient believed to be the first human case in Canada infected with H5N1 avian influenza was admitted to a children's hospital in British Columbia. The patient's symptoms began on November 2, and at the time of writing, the patient was in critical condition with acute respiratory distress syndrome due to severe respiratory failure.
Preliminary genomic analysis of the H5N1 variant of the avian influenza virus that infected the patient revealed potential mutations in genome sites known to increase susceptibility to the virus.
This may indicate that the H5N1 avian influenza virus has the ability to become more similar to the human virus than the avian virus, but it is not yet clear what effect this mutation will have on humans and how dangerous it may be.
'We don't know exactly what the impact will be, but it's certainly a warning sign,' said Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada. 'We need to pay serious attention to this mutation and try to reduce human transmission as much as possible.'
So far, no new cases have been found among the family, friends or contacts of the Canadian patient, or medical personnel treating them.
The Canadian patient had no contact with birds, but was around pet dogs, cats and reptiles, and experts believe that one of these animals may have come into contact with a dead bird or animal and become infected with the virus, which then passed it on to the patient.
It is not yet known whether the mutations in avian influenza that make it more susceptible to human infection will develop into a public health crisis, but in North America, avian influenza is already spreading rapidly among poultry, causing rising egg prices and becoming a real problem for people all over the world.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), since highly pathogenic avian influenza first infected birds in the United States in February 2022, more than 108 million poultry birds in 48 states have been infected with avian influenza.
The deaths and decline in chickens have also led to rising egg prices, with the average price of a 12-pack in October 2024 reported to be $3.37 (about 520 yen), up 30.4% from the same month last year.
'Avian flu is the single biggest factor affecting egg prices,' said Bernd Nelson, an economist with the American Farm Bureau Federation. 'As avian flu comes and goes, egg prices go up and down in waves.'
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