70ms

It took a while, but it's back and flourishing. 😍 I'll give it another year or so and then start working on ramification and creating a canopy. I traded a cactus nursery a bunch of seeds from my euphorbia obesa pair for it in Feb '21 and it's grown so much!

https://i.imgur.com/aRVsEk0.jpg

Now, hundreds more sea birds thought to have been infected with avian flu have been found washed up on British beaches as the virus continues to sweep through Europe.

Our chief correspondent Alex Thomson has been to Coquet Island, off Northumberland and a warning, his report contains images of dead and dying birds.

(Video is on linked page)

£1.5 million government funding will support research into avian influenza outbreaks

Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) virus continues to circulate extensively among seabirds in Europe causing high mortality, while the overall situation in poultry has eased. Epidemiological investigations of an outbreak in cats in Poland are ongoing. The risk to the general public remains low, according to the latest report on avian influenza by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), and the EU reference laboratory (EURL).

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The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) is working with the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA), the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the public health agencies of the 4 nations to monitor the risk to human health of avian influenza (influenza A H5N1) in England. This briefing is produced to share data useful to other public health investigators and academic partners undertaking related work. It includes early evidence and preliminary analyses which may be subject to change.

BirdWatch Ireland staff have been dealing with alarming and unprecedented outbreaks of the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of avian influenza, or bird ‘flu, at some of Ireland’s most important seabird colonies. Over the past few weeks, the carcasses of hundreds of dead seabirds, both adults and chicks, have been recovered for disposal, in an effort to try to prevent further spread of this highly contagious viral disease. There are fears for the long-term devastating consequences this outbreak may have on Ireland’s seabird populations, which are of international importance.

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Two more poultry workers in England have tested positive for avian influenza, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has confirmed.

The two cases of bird flu have been detected at different premises in England through UKHSA’s surveillance programme of asymptomatic workers who have come into contact with birds.

See also: Avian influenza prevention zone lifted, but risk remains

This means four workers have tested positive for avian flu since the programme was launched in March.

In May, there were two positive cases in England and those workers have since tested negative.

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The Finnish Food Authority (FFA) today reported an H5N1 avian flu outbreak in blue foxes at a fur farm in Kausti, located in the west central part of the country. The agency said the virus is the same one that caused recent mass deaths in wild birds.

Also, officials said influenza has been detected at four other fur farms and subtyping tests are still under way. They added that the viruses were found in samples sent by breeders to determine the cause of illness. The source of the virus is still under investigation, but the foxes likely contracted the virus from wild birds.

The farm is the first fur facility in the country to be hit with an H5N1 outbreak. Finland had previously reported H5N1 in two wild foxes.

The FFA said avian flu has been found in large numbers of wild birds this summer and that it is examining samples from several mass deaths of seagulls from different parts of Finland.

In a notification to the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH), Finnish officials said the farm also housed 1,500 raccoon dogs as well as 3,500 foxes. Three fatal infections were reported in the foxes. Officials said several black-headed gulls were seen near the farm. So far, no control measures are in place, because highly pathogenic avian flu isn't a listed disease for fur farms. However, veterinary officials are working closely with public health partners and are encouraging fur farms to step-up their biosecurity and use of personal protective equipment.

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July 12 (Reuters) - Three UN agencies on Wednesday warned that an ongoing rise in avian flu outbreaks globally raised concerns that the virus might adapt to infect humans more easily, and urged countries to strengthen disease surveillance and improve hygiene at poultry farms.

Earlier this year, a new H5N1 strain of bird flu that is highly contagious among wild birds explosively spread to new geographical regions, infecting and killing a variety of mammal species and raising fears of a pandemic among humans.

The European Food Safety Authority called on Thursday for cat and dog owners to keep their pets inside in response to record cases of avian influenza across the world after 24 cats tested positive in Poland.

The World Health Organization (WHO) is monitoring the evolution of the H5N1 virus in various species including mammals after it was linked to the death of nine domestic cats across Poland

Translated from Italian:

The Ministry of Health informs that the seroconversion of five dogs and one cat present in a rural poultry farm in the province of Brescia, the site of an outbreak of HPAI H5N1 has recently been ascertained.

Genetic analyses of the virus found in the birds that died in the outbreak carried out by the National and European Reference Centre (CRN) for avian influenza and Newcastle disease of the IBIS of the Venice have shown that it is an HPAI H5N1 belonging to clade 2.3.4.4b, and in particular to the genotype H5N1-A/Herring_gull/

This virus also has a mutation considered to be an adaptation marker of mammalian viruses (T271A in protein PB2) with a possible increase in its zoonotic potential.

On 14 June 2023, the 'expert group' was brought together to define the functioning of the national network of public human and veterinary laboratories for the early detection of the circulation of influenza virus strains with zoonotic potential in order to activate an early warning system for influenza epidemics, including pandemic, which did not change the risk assessment produced on 27 February 2023 and disseminated with the Circular of 7 March,

The application of biosecurity measures in poultry farms should be intensified with the utmost urgency and effectiveness also in consideration of new cases of HPAI H5N1 in red-roated seagulls (Chroicocephalus genei) and common seagulls (Chroicocephalus ridibundus) in the province of Ravenna.