Bird Flu Found in U.S. Duck for First Time

[cronus]

http://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-ne ... me-n291781

Bird Flu Found in U.S. Duck for First Time

A green-winged teal, AKA a duck, shot by a hunter in northern Washington state has tested positive for H5N1 bird flu — a relative of the virus that's infected nearly 700 people globally and killed 400 of them.

It's the first case of highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza ever seen in the U.S. The good news is that the strain is genetically different from the strain that's circulated in China, across Asia and most recently in Egypt. It doesn't appear to have infected any people or even domestic poultry.

But it shows that wild migrating birds can carry dangerous viruses to the U.S., says Hon Ip, an expert on wildlife pathogens at the U.S. Geological Survey in Madison, Wisconsin.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture will need to keep a close eye out for other birds with H5N1, Ip said.

"USDA and the Department of the Interior are going to have to spend time to understand the implication of this introduction," Ip told NBC News. "At the moment, we do not know of a single human case with our H5."

Flu is a mutation-prone virus and there are hundreds of strains. Even with precise-sounding names such as H5N1, there can be a large degree of genetic variation. Scientists are watching for mutations and other genetic changes that can make a virus strain more likely to infect people and poultry.

The H5N1 that most people are worried about has killed or forced the destruction of hundreds of millions of chickens around the world. It occasionally infects people and the fear is it will mutate into a form that makes it pass easily from person to person. That would spark a pandemic that could kill millions.

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[laklak]

FFS, there goes my duck confit.

[JimC]

Not this little black duck!

[pErvinalia]

Good news, Scump, what with Ebola now listed as under-control (infections and deaths are falling)!