Three human beings in China, two children and one adult, have been infected with the H9N2 bird flu, also known as the avian influenza. These new cases bring China’s H9N2 total for the year to five. In 2024, the country reported 11 cases.
The University of Minnesota’s CIDRAP stated that one of the patients is a 7-year-old girl from Henan province whose symptoms began on February 11th. Another infection also involved a child, a 5-year-old boy from Guangxi province who became ill on March 3rd.
This version of the bird flu virus is known to circulate in poultry in China and other parts of Asia. Sporadic human infections continue to be reported, mainly from China. Infections are typically reported in children who usually experience mild infections. However, some people can become severely ill.
The bird flu fear-mongering has recently leveled off, and we can only hope that this means the panic never took hold and we can put this outbreak behind us. Or it could mean that the war mongering is going to tick up, too.
While human cases in the U.S. appear to have ended, several outbreaks in domestic cats persist, according to most mainstream media outlets.
Meghan F. Davis, a veterinarian and epidemiologist with Johns Hopkins University, said that cats are very susceptible to the bird flu. “Cats are not part of, for example, the surveillance structures that we have in place for people,” she said, according to a report at STAT News. “We don’t invest nearly as much in veterinary research, whether it’s for clinical or public health benefit, as we do in human, which kind of makes some sense.”
Davis said she’s so concerned that she has closed her “catio” (a cat outside patio) to prevent the animals from having contact with outside sources of prey, such as rodents and wild birds.
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