World Health Organization confirms first official human death from H5N2 (Bird Flu). A Mexican man with no prior animal contact has passed away, heavily implying human-human transmission

what are the odds than any government takes action to mitigate spread for this pandemic? even political will in china for lockdowns seems unlikely

Unfortunately, I think you and I both already know the odds of a new round of lockdowns
- The Applebees zombie movie picture getting a sequel would be hilarious
Didn't the US start preemptively developing a vaccine. I may totally eat my words but I don't think the world goverments will let another plague run wild with how much it hurt capital last time.
- As opposed to the current plague they're letting run wild?
- Wait, didn't we see unprecedented corporate earnings during and post pandemic?
- It was the only time we ever got money from the government. Can’t let that happen again obviously.
- The plague that did that is running wild. They don't care and made money.
- I’m not really an expert on this topic but I don’t think covid was necessarily bad for capital as a monolithic group. Recessions hurt some and help others, having the effect of concentrating capital among a shrinking group of capitalists while the losers fall to the working class.
  
  Michael Hudson understands the 2008 crisis as essentially a corrective event made inevitable by the housing bubble. In Marxian terms I think of this as price and value increasingly diverging when looking at the economy in aggregate, and eventually the laws of capitalism assert themselves.
  
  From the perspective of capital, if you own most of the factories and a recession eliminates your competition, then you get to take up their capital at a fraction of its real value. So a recession increases wealth inequality and shrinks the overall economy, but it also massively benefits a small minority of winners.

At least it's H5N2, and not H5N1. That's the only upside. This is still a terrible development. H5N2 has a lower R0 and is more mild than H5N1, in birds at least.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/tbed.14675

A bird infected with both would be a petri dish for the two viruses to exchange gene strands I think?
- I kind of forgot this was a thing
  
  Recombination is a widespread phenomenon in viruses and can have a major impact on their evolution. Indeed, recombination has been associated with the expansion of viral host ranges, the emergence of new viruses, the alteration of transmission vector specificities, increases in virulence and pathogenesis, the modification of tissue tropisms, the evasion of host immunity, and the evolution of resistance to antivirals.

I really hate living in a world that can't respond to crises. There are a handful of countries in the world with the ability and will to do so. But their good intentions are undercut by a cruel, apathetic world.

I hate hiding my face behind a mask. I hate being scared to do simple errands. Fuck this fuckity fuckfuck.

angery

Billionaires made record profits from the Covid pandemic, gobbling up failing businesses and accumulated far more capital than ever. Crisis is good for capitalism.
- Theoretically the more consolidated power becomes the more unstable it is. There's a reason the liberals didn't end monarchy until after absolute monarchs gained power. It might be cope but it sounds nice.

so when bodies are being stacked in the streets do you think the anti-vax people are just going to claim it's because of the covid vaccine and there is no bird flu?

what am i saying of course they will.

Bird flu was made in a lab by woke scientists who were all mind controlled with the mRNA vaccines.
- Or it came from Mexico and so means a pogrom towards anyone not is gonna occur similar to the asian hate crimes that happened during covid
- oh shit so that's what those do!
- The COVID vaccine gave me autism wait no it was the athe vaccine it certainly wasn't my Aunt dropping me on the stairs when I was a baby
  
  Edit sorry the snark was insufficient. We need an 'im doing a bit' emoji lol

Can't wait for some Fox news article saying that it MIGHT originate from Mexican science labs and immigration policies should be tightened as a result

.
I expect the opinion pages of the NYT and the like to have shit on it within the week.
How much abuse can Mexico take before they collectively just go apeshit

time to shave so I can fit a mask over my face properly.

And please don’t eat any undercooked meat.
there might be another way: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7532752/

Abstract

Tight-fitting filtering facepiece (FFP3) face masks are essential respiratory protective equipment during aerosol-generating procedures in the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) environment, and require a fit test to assess mask–face seal competency. Facial hair is considered to be an impediment for achieving a competent seal. We describe an under-mask beard cover called the Singh Thattha technique, which obtained a pass rate of 25/27 (92.6%) by qualitative and 5/5 (100%) by quantitative fit test in full-bearded individuals. Sturdier versions of FFP3 were more effective. For individuals for whom shaving is not possible, the Singh Thattha technique could offer an effective solution to safely don respirator masks.
- cool, can I afford it?
Ugh I don’t know that I’m willing to do that yet
all things point towards a huge revival of toothbrush mustaches

I'll never get sick because I don't go to the doctor. Checkmate liberals.

God I'm feeling like the early days of the covid pandemic, hearing about this distant epidemic with these various news stories coming out about how this thing is getting bigger and bigger as it steadily creeps closer to where it might effect me. I'll be interested to see how people react if this explodes into a full-blown pandemic though. I'm not hopeful, to say the least.

I will point out though that the story says all close contacts tested negative, which I think would mean there's no human-to-human transmission? If so, I'm interested as to how it did reach him - maybe raw milk or undercooked chicken/eggs? It also says there were farms near the patient's home, so maybe there was some contact with poultry/cows? I know it's being reported there was no contact with poultry, but I'm assuming this is just because contact can't be confirmed since he's not a farmworker or anything. But if he's living around farmland there can of course still be contact.

well I hope my new 65" OLED tv shows up before the next lockdowns starts (who am I kidding there's not gonna be another lockdown)
- Hopefully it shows up before the mail stops coming at least
just because contact can't be confirmed since he's not a farmworker or anything. But if he's living around farmland there can of course still be contact

can't you get exposed just from bird shit? i doubt contact with strictly 'agricultural' animals is necessary. the super bewildering portion of the story is the patient was on bed-rest for 3 weeks. that strongly implies they weren't exposed to normal environmental vectors, but i don't know how confidently they could rule out the patient having gotten it before being bedridden.
- Looking forward to the breathless Westoid articles about the Chinese pigeons conscripted to shit in people's mouths all over the world to spread their sinister bioweapon.
- yeah I remember reading it can be spread just through bird shit, which is honestly horrifying. I have bird shit on my car right now and I'm scared to touch it. But yeah I think you're right, contact with birds is enough to spread it.

Here's the wastewater dashboard for tracking transmission.

Whooping (crane) cough kelly

Where in mexico?

Hospitalized in Mexico City

https://www.who.int/emergencies/disease-outbreak-news/item/2024-DON520

On 23 May 2024, the Mexico International Health Regulations (IHR) National Focal Point (NFP) reported to PAHO/WHO a confirmed fatal case of human infection with avian influenza A(H5N2) virus detected in a resident of the State of Mexico who was hospitalized in Mexico City.
- Cool cool cool just in a mega city. Will libs simultaneously use this to explain why sealing the southern border is even more good while they are unmasked and brunching? Oh hell yeah
- many thanks
Good question lol

You’d think that an article about something so important might tell you where, but alas

cool. cool cool cool

Mexico you say? Interesting.

Damn it.

I mentioned this to people I now and was immediately hit with "weird how pandemics keep happening during election years" and "guess more non-citizens Biden let in will be voting with mail in ballots". I really need to leave the suburbs.

can't wait to learn that this came from Ft Detrick too

.

how does someone who was bedridden for 3 weeks bc of an unrelated illness with no exposure to poultry or animals contract the bird flu? sure, its possible they got it from an unreported animal exposure, but the information presented suggests human-human transmission was a possibility
- Bird-bird transmission (EDIT: oops, of H5N1) is EXTREMELY easy and requires pretty extreme quarantine protocols. If you track bird shit on your shoes, other birds can catch it from that for like a month unless it is properly cleaned and sanitized. (Source: have friends who work for wildlife rescue organizations that include birds.)
  
  Might be something like that? Or just a long incubation period?
The implication of catching the bird flu without having any animal contact and after being bedridden for 3 weeks implies human-human transmission, which is what I said.