With approximately 2,000 registered attendees, members of the veterinary and human health communities, scientists, media, policymakers, general public and others showed their concerns about avian flu by tuning into the February 19 UC Health Grand Rounds. The one-hour, online session featured three experts from the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine and one from UC Davis Health.
Bats are widely recognized as the primary hosts of filoviruses, such as Ebola, yet the specific host species of ebolaviruses are not definitively known. In a study led by the University of California, Davis, and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine (Einstein), scientists have developed a new tool to narrow down potential host species of filoviruses and better prioritize wildlife surveillance. The research is part of global efforts to prevent viral spillover between animals and humans.
Last week, the first human death as a result of infection with highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1, or bird flu was reported. According to the Louisiana state health agency, “The patient contracted H5N1 after exposure to a combination of a non-commercial backyard flock and wild birds.”
Every winter, millions of migratory birds fly south to warmer locales, passing over California Central Valley dairies and poultry farms. Many of these wild waterfowl are carrying the virus that causes avian influenza, based on the U.S. Department of Agriculture's wild-bird surveillance, says Maurice Pitesky, University of California Cooperative Extension poultry specialist in the School of Veterinary Medicine at UC Davis.
As highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) continues to spread throughout the world, including on California dairy farms recently, experts on the subject from the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine have taken great strides to educate the public and industry partners on the subject.
Since 2022, a new, highly pathogenic strain of H5N1 influenza or “bird flu” has spread worldwide. In the U.S. it has affected over 100 million birds and for the first time, spread into dairy cows and a small, but growing, number of people. At UC Davis, experts in One Health — an approach that considers the health of people, animals and the environment together — are on high alert.
Nothing but death
Dead silence met Marcela Uhart and her team when they arrived at the elephant seal colony at Punta Delgada, Patagonia on Oct. 10, 2023.
Dairy cows in California have a new requirement meeting them: a negative test for H5n1 or “bird flu.”
These tests are handled by the California Animal Health and Food Safety Laboratory System – the backbone of California's warning system that helps to protect the health of California's livestock and, thereby, the lives of Californians.
Katie Griffin, a dual degree DVM/PH.D. student at UC Davis, is part of a research team studying how engineered bone marrow has the potential to improve treatment for osteosarcoma.
Researchers at the University of California, Davis, One Health Institute, or OHI, have been awarded $28 million to lead a novel human vaccine trial against Rift Valley fever virus in Africa.
