Is H5n1 Our Next Pandemic In Waiting?

This persistent virus keeps rearing it’s ugly head. This is a major reason behind egg prices right now that doesn’t get much mention. It’s distant cousin, H1N1, is thought to be the cause of the worst pandemic in recent history, the 1918 influenza outbreak. I think it’s just a matter of time.

https://phys.org/news/2023-02-bird-flu-mammals-humans-experts.html

By the way, experts say the virus would have to “significantly mutate” to jump to humans. Um, yeah, influenza viruses do that ALL THE TIME. A significant mutation is whatever one happens to let it jump to humans, just like it did to bears, otters, foxes, etc. Just a matter of time.

 

Basically, I no longer give rats behind. I am so tried of All the doomsday crap. We ALL are in deep doo doo on planet earth, from the air we breath, the food and water, climate change, medicine that can help you but kill you later, bugs, viruses, we have it all. Sadly no matter you do, or think one of something is gonna get you in the end. Live like you were dying, it matter that much then.

 

Yep, it’s true, it’s always something. I’ve found a renewed interest in viruses since this latest mess started.

 

I don't either because there isn't a damn thing I can do about it. Back in the covid peak, I had crows dropping dead in my yard. The wildlife expert said it was H5N1 most likely and they were no longer concerned. Just throw the dead crows in the garbage can. The health department told me they no longer cared and humans couldn't get it. I know one rancher that did, at least that is what his doctor confirmed.

Yes, humans can get it, and maybe not as rare as they tell us.

We have a lot of intestinal and stomach flu around here that sure fits with H5N1, so I continue my Everclear hand sanitizing routine and fear not.

 

I had been wondering if we were unusual in using antiseptic to thoroughly wash our hands any time we’ve been out of the house. We use Hibiclens.

edit: also, it kind of pisses me off hearing this flat out statement that you can’t get it. When pushed they’ll say well, the virus would have to mutate. DUH! They do that CONSTANTLY in their reproductive cycles, some more than others but it is a given that they are doing this. I wonder why guidance for research labs suggest BSL 2 rated laboratories for handling H1N1?

Where’s the emoji for banging a head against the wall?

https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/about-us/networks/disease-and-laboratory-networks/erlinet-biosafety

 

I have more faith in actual hand washing than I do in cleaners...just my skepticism. The powers-that-be blew their wad on Covid that had a very low mortality among the young without co-morbidities, but when confronted by a virus that really poses a threat, no on will believe what they are told. I have also read that Marburg is spreading out of Africa now and may have an airborne strain. I know they have been messing with H1N1, so I wonder if they are also enhancing Marburg.

 

Our federal agencies make me absolutely nuts. Their regulations strike me sometimes as having been drawn up by morons. I was required to take a radiation safety class when I started using isotopes in the lab. During the class, the instructor mentioned an example of workers in uranium mines having increased cancer risk as an example of why safety regulations were needed. In electron microscopy, we us heavy metal stains to make tissue components electron dense. One of the most common is uranyl acetate.

So, I asked him about uranyl acetate. His response was that it was not a controlled substance. So I asked if that meant it was made from depleted uranium. He said no, just said again that it was not a controlled substance. So I asked him, if it was a controlled substance, what would the handling protocols resemble. He said they would be about the same as for C14. I said (getting a bit “excited”) are you kidding? He caught my tone and said it’s not a big deal, you probably get more from a thorium mantle on a Coleman lantern. I thought yeah, but I don’t use a Coleman lantern nearly every day at work.

So, as soon as I got back to the lab, I got our hand held counter, opened our reagent jar of uranyl acetate, held the probe over the opening and watched it go crazy. I put my hand just above the mouth of the jar. I got an almost identical reading right through my hand. I was so angry, I wrote a lengthy complaint about it that if the purpose of the regulations was worker safety, what were they thinking by not including raw uranium salts? I don’t know if my complaining had anything at all to do with it but I know that a few years later, that common reagent (in E.M. Labs) was covered in the course.

 

From the looks of things, Marburg is going to be our next pandemic since New York Health Department, Nebraska Health and the WHO are all setting (or have set up) drills regarding the virus. Marburg is a fluid-transmitted virus that affects primates. It is starting to spread through its reservoirs in Africa. Perhaps the CDC and WHO have taken a clue form Tom Clancy , as the Twin Tower bombers did on 9-11 (Debt of Honor). In the novel Executive Action Muslim terrorists develop an aerosol-transmissible form of Ebola. The release of the virus gives the U.S. President enormous emergency powers and he basically takes over the country as a dictator. Has anyone else read the novel?

 

Remember the outbreak in the monkey colony in Northern Virginia (Hazleton Labs IIRC). That was the basis of the movie, “The Hot Zone”. Some of the USAMRIID researchers investigating it were named by their actual names in the book. I even got to meet one of them, in passing, at Ft, Detrick. The virus there was apparently related to Ebola Zaire.

As an aside, I remember seeing a report about this on the news when it was happening and told my girlfriend that something looked wrong. I said you don’t see people wearing biohazard suits like that unless there’s a serious problem. I think it was a good thing they got the military involved when they did because they really got serious fast about managing the issue. Think of that, an Ebola outbreak in a monkey colony in densely populated Northern Virgina.