Can the virus transfer from infected farm animals to contaminate milk, meat or eggs? It depends on where you are and how well you cook your food. But for most of us, the chances are low.
Cows typically get over avian flu in a couple of weeks, but it’s an economic blow for farms.
AP Photo/Charlie Litchfield
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?
Sea lions killed by bird flu in Chile, April 2023.
Patricio Banda/EPA-EFE
Alaskapox was discovered in 2015 and has generally only caused mild illness – until now.
West Nile virus is spread by mosquitoes. About 80 per cent of infected people have no symptoms, but the virus can cause encephalitis and can be life-threatening.
(AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
West Nile virus arrived in North America in 1999 and spread across the continent by 2005. Here’s what you need to know about this mosquito-borne pathogen.
Authorities have been warned about five virus families that could cause future pandemics. Here are snapshots of the diseases each can cause and why we should be worried.
For the lab leak theory to be true, SARS-CoV-2 must have been present in the Wuhan Institute of Virology before the pandemic started. But there’s not a single piece of data suggesting this.
Data suggests most of the time infection results in either no symptoms or very mild disease for cats and dogs. And the duration of their symptoms, if they get them, may be very short.
Electron micrograph of monkeypox virus particles isolated in 2003 in the United States from human samples (left, mature, oval viruses; right, immature, round viruses).
Cynthia S. Goldsmith, Russell Regner / CDC / AP
This is not the first time that the monkeypox virus has spread beyond Africa, its continent of origin. But the current epidemic is unprecedented for a number of reasons.
We can use AI to protect nature and human health. But first, we have to expand AI beyond being entirely human-centred.
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.
The delay in finding definitive answers to how novel infectious diseases come about is not unusual. Look at what happened to our search for Ebola virus.
Around 20% of patients may experience severe illness from the Lassa fever virus.
Kateryna Kon/ Shutterstock