I have some chickens and therefore I have to have them registered with the government - and separately with the Scottish Government. So I receive constant texts and emails about the latest outbreaks of bird flu, this week its all over Norfolk. But last year it was here in wild birds (thousands floating in the sea and on the beaches) and several of my neighbours had to kill their chickens because of an out break very close to here. Lets call it killing, not culling, don't sanitise it. Its terrifying to think of having to kill/or watch them being killed, they don't deserve that. Imagine being ordered to hand over your dog or cat for slaughter and helplessly having to do it. I think this article should include a reference to how we farm billions of animals a year so we can eat them and drink their milk and if we reduced this then we would substantially reduce the risk of flu (and other) pandemics and slow the climate crisis. There are things we can ALL do to reduce the risk of a pandemic and eating less meat and drinking less milk is one of them along with masks and cleaner air but we can't all do the latter because of cost. We can all change what we eat and drink.
It’s sad that as a society we seem to lack the imagination to see a future when we no longer experience such diseases, or the ambition to get there. We have all the tools we need to effectively prevent transmission – GUV, fast developing Far-UVC, real time biosensors, filtration, ventilation – which have the potential to effectively eliminate a host of infectious diseases. Yet we are stuck on vaccines as the first and pretty much only line of defence. Vaccines are important, but as a last resort to support the preventative measures that we should be using to extinguish new pandemics at birth.
Appreciate your article and that we are some way from a pandemic. If it is not too early to tell given we know a lot about influenza what differences in a cautionary approach would the ordinary person have to take if H5N1 made that pandemic jump? For example would Covid type measures...FFP2/3masks, distancing 2m, ventilating rooms if meeting be as effective as with Covid?
In short, yes they would be, and in fact are, effective against influenza, whatever its type. That approach is effective against any respiratory disease.
This is an excellent summary I think. I'm wondering if the current strategies in the US for household contracts of H5 includes (as it does in the UK I think) the use of antiviral drugs? I recall a lot of controversy about its effectiveness / cost effectiveness in recent, post H1N1pdm09, times. As far as I know, it still remains a central part of UK national response plans to a full blown outbreak as well.
Thank you for this, balanced, well evidenced and informative article. It has helped me catch my breath in the wealth of scare stories and their polar opposite complacent articles.
I have some chickens and therefore I have to have them registered with the government - and separately with the Scottish Government. So I receive constant texts and emails about the latest outbreaks of bird flu, this week its all over Norfolk. But last year it was here in wild birds (thousands floating in the sea and on the beaches) and several of my neighbours had to kill their chickens because of an out break very close to here. Lets call it killing, not culling, don't sanitise it. Its terrifying to think of having to kill/or watch them being killed, they don't deserve that. Imagine being ordered to hand over your dog or cat for slaughter and helplessly having to do it. I think this article should include a reference to how we farm billions of animals a year so we can eat them and drink their milk and if we reduced this then we would substantially reduce the risk of flu (and other) pandemics and slow the climate crisis. There are things we can ALL do to reduce the risk of a pandemic and eating less meat and drinking less milk is one of them along with masks and cleaner air but we can't all do the latter because of cost. We can all change what we eat and drink.
It’s sad that as a society we seem to lack the imagination to see a future when we no longer experience such diseases, or the ambition to get there. We have all the tools we need to effectively prevent transmission – GUV, fast developing Far-UVC, real time biosensors, filtration, ventilation – which have the potential to effectively eliminate a host of infectious diseases. Yet we are stuck on vaccines as the first and pretty much only line of defence. Vaccines are important, but as a last resort to support the preventative measures that we should be using to extinguish new pandemics at birth.
Why not start to vaccinate cows?
If the amount of mammals that carry this virus is reduced then it won't mutate so fast.
Appreciate your article and that we are some way from a pandemic. If it is not too early to tell given we know a lot about influenza what differences in a cautionary approach would the ordinary person have to take if H5N1 made that pandemic jump? For example would Covid type measures...FFP2/3masks, distancing 2m, ventilating rooms if meeting be as effective as with Covid?
In short, yes they would be, and in fact are, effective against influenza, whatever its type. That approach is effective against any respiratory disease.
Good post, but I am interested as well in your predictions about the future of covid and another coronavirus pandemic?
This is an excellent summary I think. I'm wondering if the current strategies in the US for household contracts of H5 includes (as it does in the UK I think) the use of antiviral drugs? I recall a lot of controversy about its effectiveness / cost effectiveness in recent, post H1N1pdm09, times. As far as I know, it still remains a central part of UK national response plans to a full blown outbreak as well.
the ECDC says that there are some antivirals effective against H5N1, so I imagine they would be important in a response... https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/zoonotic-influenza/facts/factsheet-h5n1
Thank you for this, balanced, well evidenced and informative article. It has helped me catch my breath in the wealth of scare stories and their polar opposite complacent articles.