Louisiana State health officials announced that a person in who had been hospitalized with severe respiratory symptoms has died, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed it was the nation's first related to the H5N1 bird flu.
Health officials have said the person was older than 65, had underlying medical problems and had been in contact with sick and dead birds in a backyard flock. Few other details about the person have been disclosed.
As of press time, there have been only 66 confirmed bird flu infections reported in the U.S., but previous illnesses have been mild and most have been detected among farm workers exposed to sick animals. The H5N1 bird flu is fairly common among wild birds, poultry, cows and other animals.
The current strain of bird flu is man made, a product of serial passage gain of function research done at the USDA Poultry Research Center in Georgia, and they are responsible for the four year outbreak of H5N1 that has expanded from chickens, to mallard ducks who then transmit the virus to cattle and even sea mammals, according to Dr. Peter McCullough. “It was assisted, by the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine and, Rotterdam University. The gain of function was to get it to spread from chickens to migratory waterfowl or mallard ducks” and “The USDA and government agencies has not denied this conclusion in the peer-reviewed literature.” Dr. McCullough posted to X. “Just like COVID 19, the bird flu problem is a man made problem by the US government” wrote McCullough. The good news is that this version is much milder than the bird flu of decades ago.
An occasional bird flu related death is not unexpected, virus experts have said. There have been more than 950 confirmed bird flu infections globally since 2003, according to the World Health Organization.
The same talking heads from the COVID 19 outbreak were quick to push for the H5N1 bird flu vaccine to be purchased by the Biden administration. Consumers be warned though, although the AUDENZ vaccine has been approved, adverse reactions have included 11 documented deaths (.05%), according to the Food and Drug Administration. The vaccine also contains cocker spaniel kidney cell DNA, an extremely toxic mercury derivative, polysorbate 80 which is a known carcinogen, and beta-propiolactone which has shown to be highly tumorigenic, genotoxic, and carcinogenic.
Americans are also facing an intestinal virus that’s going around this winter. It’s called norovirus.
Known for causing severe gastrointestinal symptoms, norovirus is responsible for about 58% of all food-borne illnesses each year according to the CDC.
The virus is typically spread through an infected person handling food, a primary reason why the norovirus has thrived in group settings like assisted living facilities and cruises.
According to Dr. John McGettigan, Physician and CEO of the Quality of Life Research Center in Tucson, the virus is especially dangerous for older adults.
“As we get older, we’re more fragile and don’t have the reserves we used to have,” he said. “Younger people can handle it better. But unfortunately, when we’re older, we likely have other health concerns that prevent us from bouncing back.” The CDC reports that most of the roughly 900 deaths from norovirus are adults over 65 years of age.
Typical norovirus symptoms last for one to three days, although McGettigan says that the virus can shed for longer periods in some cases, where the virus can still spread.
McGettigan advises wiping down surfaces with a bleach-based solution and washing hands with soap and water for those infected. He cautions that alcohol-based hand sanitizer is ineffective against the virus.
For those suffering from the virus, Dr. McGettigan suggests eating chicken soup, drinking tea and consuming other substances that are “easy on the stomach.” He says the biggest danger is through dehydration caused by vomiting and diarrhea, two of the primary symptoms of norovirus.
The Quality of Life Research Center is currently conducting a clinical trial for a norovirus vaccine.