Bird flu in U.S. dairy cows has Canadian public health experts on high alert. With one human case identified in Texas, what is the likelihood of H5N1 influenza moving from birds to mammals to people?
An attendant feeds chickens at a poultry farm.
Pius Utomi Ekpei/AFP via Getty Images
People should minimise contact with birds in areas affected by bird flu viruses, including farms and settings where live animals may be sold or slaughtered.
A delicious – and safe – holiday spread involves careful foreplanning and preparation.
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Keeping guests safe involves far more than just careful cooking − hand-washing, keeping work surfaces clean, safe handling and proper storage are also key ingredients.
Few countries have had to deal with the scale of animal disease outbreaks South Africa has had to.
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Tracking data suggests individual chickens have very different movement patterns.
Avian influenza (‘bird flu’) is a highly transmissible and usually mild disease that affects wild birds such as geese, swans, seagulls, shorebirds, and also domestic birds such as chickens and turkeys.
(CDC and NIAID)
Clement Meseko, National Veterinary Research Institute, Vom, Jos
Bird flu has been recurring in Africa since 2006 and Nigeria is heavily affected. High-level biosecurity measures are required to keep people and animals safe.
Bird flu is transmitted mainly by wild birds, like these snow geese in Ruthsberg, Md., in January 2023.
Photo by JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images
Avian influenza viruses have evolved to infect birds, but the current H5N1 outbreak is also infecting a wide range of mammals. This suggests that it could mutate into forms that threaten humans.
Antimicrobial use in poultry is threatening the health of consumers in Nigeria.
Pius Utomi Ekpei/AFP via Getty Images
Indiscriminate antimicrobial use in Nigeria’s poultry value chain is putting people at risk of developing resistance to medicines.
The strain of H5N1 bird flu identified in Canada, the United States and Europe can cause severe disease and high mortality in domestic poultry.
(AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
Avian influenza virus — or bird flu — can infect domestic poultry such as chickens and turkeys, as well as wild birds. The H5N1 strain has been identified in Canada.
Not everyone is a fan of Turkey Day.
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From ‘turkey trot’ to ‘going cold turkey,’ the centerpiece to many Thanksgiving dinners has lent its name to many things. But it also borrowed its name from elsewhere.
A herd of cows returning from a drinking hole in Amboseli, Kenya.
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Polly Ericksen, International Livestock Research Institute and Laura Cramer, International Livestock Research Institute
African livestock keepers need help: without proactive interventions, increasing temperatures will reduce meat and milk production.
An entovegan might happily eat an insect burger like this one, believing that their diet is both sustainable and ethical.
Karen Bleier/AFP via Getty Images
Insect farming is growing in popularity as an alternative to traditional livestock and feed production. A scholar evaluates what that means in terms of trillions of insect lives.
Egg production standards are about more than just a happy compromise. Hens are sentient, intelligent beings. Like us, they deserve a good life.
Nearly 1,000 workers at this Smithfield Foods pork-processing plant in South Dakota contracted COVID-19 between mid-March and mid-April 2020.
Kerem Yucel / AFP via Getty Images
Thousands of workers at meat- and poultry-processing plants have contracted COVID-19, and hundreds have died. A legal scholar recommends ways to make their jobs safer.
George Aubert rescues one of his chickens from rising floodwaters caused by Hurricane Matthew in Fair Bluff, North Carolina, in 2016.
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Victoria currently has three avian influenza outbreaks across six farms. They are being treated as an emergency. Here’s how authorities are responding.
Backyard chickens may seem free and happy, but are at increased risk of contracting diseases from wild birds.
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Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, some critics say livestock farms promote diseases that spread from animals to humans. An animal scientist explains how well-run farms work to keep that from happening.
Workers in a pork processing plant, 2016.
USGAO/Wikipedia
COVID-19 outbreaks have occurred at more than 100 US meatpacking plants. Geography, workforce demographics and economic concentration make it hard for workers to fight for better conditions.