Post by RonOPost by RonOhttps://www.cidrap.umn.edu/avian-influenza-bird-flu/canada-announces-
avian-flu-vaccine-buy-usda-confirms-first-h5n1-detections
500,000 doses have been purchased. Canada had the critical case of a
teenager being infected with the D1.1 genotype. They do not state
what relationship that the vaccine has to the D1.1 genotype. It is a
subtype of the Asian H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b, but the D1.1 genotype is a
reassorted virus that Has the H5 gene of the 2.3.4.4b clade, but it
has the N1 gene from a North American virus. You would think that
they would have tested the vaccine against the D1.1 variant before
deciding to stockpile it. If it is a different enough virus the
vaccine may not work against the virus that they need to have a
vaccine against. As far as I know the D1.1 genotype has not yet been
evaluated against the current vaccine H5 strains. The initial B3.13
dairy genotype was neutralized by antibodies produced by the H5
vaccine strains, but that virus has changed quite a bit since and they
haven't retested the current sequence variants. They know that the
vaccines would likely not have been that effective against the B3.13
virus that infected the Missouri patient, but they haven't reevaluated
the current variants because they don't want to know the answer. They
already stockpiled a million doses of the H5 available H5 vaccine, but
that stock pile may be worthless against D1.1 and the current B3.13
sequences. Just like the covid vaccines had to keep changing they
need to update the vaccines to the virus that are currently out there.
The article also notes that rats and other mammals are being infected
by the avian influenza, but they aren't disclosing what genotype.
Ron Okimoto
https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/avian-influenza-bird-flu/h5n5-avian-flu-
detected-canadian-poultry-flock-uk-seals
It looks like Canada has another H5 variant to worry about. They have
found H5N5 in poultry and the same genotype in the UK in seals. This
virus has the same H5 gene as the H5N1 variants clade 2.3.4.4b, but has
reassorted with European avian influenza and has an N5 allele instead of
the N1 allele. The 2.3.4.4b clade is a couple of decades old, and the
H5 sequences can be highly variable as long as they can be traced back
to that lineage. The UK is also stockpiling H5 vaccine, but there is no
guarantee that the vaccines would be effective against the extant H5
sequences, especially since the other major antigen (N5) comes from
another clade, and has an independent lineage. It looks like the
vaccine that they are stockpiling should be, at least, bivalent
containing at least 2 viral variants.
Ron Okimoto
https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/avian-influenza-bird-flu/exceptionally-rare-mutation-h5n1-virus-canada-tied-antiviral-drug
A rare mutation in the H5N1 infecting commercial poultry in Canada.
the D1.1 genotype. 8 farms were infected with a virus with the same
rare mutation that makes them resistant to one of the antiviral drugs.
The farms were all infected within 15 days with the same virus. They
should be looking at shared poultry workers between farms. Since we
same vet checked all 8 farms during the outbreak.
days.
This is why egg prices are so high. The USDA claims that there are
usually around 378 million layer chickens in the US. 57 million birds
lost since Nov 2024. Millions of layers in Texas and Michigan were lost
workers working on the poultry farms. California claims that over 40%
of their layer flocks have been lost during the dairy epidemic. This is
why the price of eggs has doubled.