Hundreds of people have been infected with the H5N1 virus since 2003 but, until now, they have all caught it from birds. The current bird flu outbreak in the States has seen herds of dairy farm cows infected in nine states.

          • El Barto@lemmy.world
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            5 months ago

            All what you’re saying is correct, but the original sentence didn’t mention species. It mentioned mammals, and to say “from humans to mammals” is a strange phrase. It’s like saying “from liquid water to liquids.”

            A correct way to say it is “transmitted to humans from other mammals.”

          • Hyperreality@kbin.social
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            5 months ago

            It was already spreading from mammal to mammal. IRC there was that Mink farm last year and I think seals too. There were also cases of H5N1 jumping from birds to humans.

            Given H5N1 can make the jump from birds to mammals(including humans), and from mammals to mammals, it’s not a huge shock that it’s made the jump to humans from other mammals.

            H1N1 killed 50-100 million people, so the danger has always been there, and scientists have been warning about it for decades. For example, here’s a journal article from almost twenty years ago discussing this scenario:

            https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1096898

  • set_secret@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    Please don’t post sky news links. This “news” service should be thoroughly ignored at all times. IF WE FEED IT WE MAKE IT STRONGER.

  • ChocoboRocket@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    I wonder if his symptoms were mild (pink eye) because of a small exposure, because it entered through the eye which is a hostile entry point, or because the cow changed the virus enough to be less/non lethal to humans?

    I know this is a massive oversimplification, and that modern vaccines would likely work far better. But seeing as how we’re living in the horse dewormer timeline, I wonder if people who refuse vaccines would prefer to get ‘naturally sick’ from an infected cow

    Cow pox helped us against smallpox

    Will cow flu help us against bird flu?